Back to School
by DoofusPrime
Summary: A Middleton High School class reunion brings old friends together to remember their past, share their present, and talk about their future.  Or, in the case of Kim Possible and Bonnie Rockwaller, maybe tear each other to pieces.
1. You Are Cordially Invited

_**Notes** - This was the winner of the "Middleton High School Reunion" Writer's Challenge Contest on the Kim Possible Discussion forum. Enjoy!_

* * *

**You are Cordially Invited**

XX

Go City could be an overwhelming place for those who weren't used to it. Superheroes, supervillains, and a hustle and bustle that was very different from the comparably quiet town of Middleton. Quiet, at least, when it wasn't being attacked by doomsday devices or alien invasions.

Despite all that, Ron had gotten used to Go City. There were even certain places that managed to escape the sleek and impersonal shine of the city in general, especially in some of the more historic downtown blocks. Ron was walking down a street in one of those blocks now, enjoying the distinctive storefronts and a lack of nearby skyscrapers. He was in a good mood. He walked at a leisurely pace along the sidewalk and whistled to himself, a jaunt in his step and a bakery bag in his hand which was filled with some iced muffins for dessert.

The bakery had made a handsome profit today, and having just gotten off work, Ron was going to see two of his favorite people. Ron arrived at his destination and stopped in front of a cozy two-story building nestled in between two larger ones. The storefront windows on its bottom floor displayed colorful outfits that demanded a closer look from anyone who passed by. Ron looked at the outfits – a couple of them were new designs, he noticed – and then looked up at the sign over the door.

_Casa de Monique._

As soon as Ron opened the door, a bell chimed his arrival. The little girl who had been sitting behind the registers opposite the door leaped up and rushed to greet the store's new customer. She leaped at Ron and wrapped her arms around him, almost bowling him over; Ron had noticed many times now that his daughter's small size could be deceptive.

"Daddy!"

"Hey Annie. Nice to see you too!"

He looked up from his daughter and gave the older woman behind the registers – who happened to be the owner of the store – a friendly wave. Monique nodded back at him.

"I hope she wasn't too much trouble?"

Monique gave Annie a mock glare. "She was nothing but trouble. Isn't that right, Annabelle?"

"Don't call me that!" Annie protested. She looked up at her father and rolled her eyes in exasperation. Ron thought something about her expression was amusingly grown-up. "Aunt Monique knows I get annoyed when she uses my full name. I think it's very childish, don't you daddy?"

"You're right," Ron agreed. "Completely childish."

Monique stuck her tongue out - whether it was directed at Ron or his daughter was hard to tell. Ron walked up to the registers and took another look back at the new outfits he had seen hanging in front of the store windows.

"Trying out some new designs, I see."

"Yeah, we'll see how they go," said Monique. "They're a little adventurous, but I think my customers can handle it. I've already seen a couple of old ladies in the street looking like they were gonna faint when they glanced in the window."

"Old ladies?" asked Ron.

"I can tell you're feelin' a bit cheeky today, Ron," said Monique with the sweetest smile she could manage, "but you don't wanna go where I think you're going."

"Okay, okay."

Annie had left her father to go rooting around in one of the less well-lit corners of the store, and a whoop of pleasure indicated that she had found something interesting. She came running back with an outfit that she had pulled from a discount rack of some of Monique's less successful merchandise, waving it wildly at her father. Ron looked it over and could immediately tell that it was not from Monique's very limited children's section.

"Daddy, Aunt Monique said I could have this for free!"

Ron laughed. "Is that right?"

Annie nodded as Monique raised an eyebrow.

"I think there's something wrong with that outfit," observed Ron as he pointed to the bottom of the shirt. "That's way too short to be a shirt - where's the midriff?" Looks like you have some damaged merchandise here, ma'am," he told Monique.

"You're being silly," said Annie with another impatient roll of her eyes. "I saw a picture of mommy in a photo album wearing a shirt just like this."

Monique snorted with laughter as Ron struggled to find a response.

"Oh, uh – well, times were different then. Your mommy made some horrible fashion mistakes that you will never repeat until you start buying your own clothing."

"When can I buy my own clothing?"

Ron thought about it a moment, and came up with an answer he thought was very reasonable.

"Thirty or so. Now put that back, Annie."

Annie grumbled as she returned to the rack where she had found the outfit. Monique had been counting out the register ever since Ron entered the store, and was almost finished bagging it up.

"Ready for some scrumptious dinner at _Chez Ron and Kim_?"

"You bet I am."

"Thanks again for letting Kim drop Annie off here for a while after school. One of my employees called in with a personal crisis at the bakery, and Kim had that mission with Team Go. I guess we had a little scheduling failure there."

"It's all good," said Monique. "Don't worry about it. Annie was upstairs in my apartment playing games until a few minutes before you came in."

Ron's daughter rejoined him, still looking a little disgruntled about her choice of outfit being shot down, as Monique finished closing things up. She gave the store one last check to make sure there were no customers still straggling around the sales floor before turning the lights off and flipping the 'open' sign on the door to 'closed'. Satisfied that they were ready to go, they left the store, and Monique locked the door by staring into the retinal scanner for a moment.

"Ready to go bother mommy now, you little munchkin?"

Annie gave her father a thumbs up.

"You bet I am!"

XX

Bonnie Rockwaller sat on a throne which was several sizes too big for her, trimmed in gold and padded with plush red cushions. The throne sat on top of a circular platform in the center of a room, which was raised up from a marble floor by several steps. Wherever Bonnie swiveled the throne – it was a top of the line Royolux model, which included swiveling action – she could enjoy an amazing view of the Mediterranean Ocean through floor to ceiling windows that ran most of the length of the room on all sides. It was a magnificent home for someone of Bonnie's stature, but at the moment, it was not making her happy.

She sank back in her throne with a grimace as she watched the holo-call in front of her. An expandable pedestal in front of her throne projected a disembodied head in the air, which was currently staring at her disapprovingly. Most people would have longed for the days of non-holographic phone calls, when someone could roll their eyes or be disrespectful without being seen by the caller. Bonnie, however, did not care whether or not the person on the other end of her call could see her displeasure.

"There's no need to be disrespectful, young lady," said her father-in-law.

Bonnie had to admit that she enjoyed being referred to as a young lady; in the last few years, she had been getting a little insecure about her age. Anti-wrinkling particle bombs at the skin care clinic could only keep skin perfect for another couple of decades, at most. Besides that particular comment, however, Bonnie was not enjoying the rest of the holo-call.

"Look," she told Señor Senior Senior's floating visage, "I told you once, and I'll tell you again, I'm too busy to think about kids!"

"Just consider it, my dear. For my sake."

"Okay, fine. Whatever."

Señor Senior Senior looked like he was about to keep turning the screw, but his image glanced back at something or someone behind him, unseen to Bonnie. "I have to go now, my dear. A little trouble at the retirement home. It is time to put old man Johnson in his place. You know how it goes."

Bonnie did, in fact, know how it went at the retirement home. She waved goodbye to her father-in-law as he terminated the holo-call, leaving an empty pedestal in front of her throne. It receded into the floor after she pressed a button on the side of her seat.

A noticeable pulse of pain had formed in Bonnie's temples, which she rubbed gingerly. Although the room was silent, she noticed several of her henchmen standing around idly and watching her. Something about their expressions began to get on her nerves.

"What are you people gawking at? Go do something useful!"

"Yes ma'am."

Bonnie's temple arced with another jolt of pain at the sound of the word "ma'am". The call had lasted at least forty five minutes. Bonnie had hoped that maybe she could live in peace at her private villa-_cum_-lair once she and Junior had moved his father into a retirement home, but he still called them constantly.

If she took him at his word, Señor Senior Senior's age had not slowed him down a bit. He seemed to be some kind of octogenarian supervillain who ruled the retirement home with an iron fist. Or maybe a quivering gelatin fist, Bonnie thought with a smirk. She liked to poke fun at him, but she supposed that if it wasn't for Señor Senior Senior, she never would have gotten into her current profession. Maybe she would thank him for that someday. She'd have to think about it.

"Hello, my darling!"

Junior had just come in from sunbathing on their sizable patio overlooking the ocean, and Bonnie could already tell that he hadn't put on enough sunscreen. He took off his sunglasses and leaned over to kiss his wife on the forehead. Bonnie eyed his physique, still perfectly maintained, and licked her lips. Junior hadn't changed much in appearance since they first met; he would be a perfect specimen of manhood if he only worked on a few lower-body and leg exercises from time to time.

"Honey," she purred, "can you go make me a martini?"

"Why did you not ask one of our highly-paid henchmen to do it?"

"Because they never do it right."

Junior smiled. "I would be happy to make you one." Before leaving for the kitchen, he handed Bonnie an envelope.

"What's this?"

"It is mail, addressed to you. What did father have to say?"

"The usual. He wants grandchildren, he hates dealing with insubordinate old folk's home lackeys."

"I see," Junior said from the kitchen. "And speaking of lackeys, what about that evil scheme which you have been working on with such concentration lately, my dear? How is that going?"

"Already done," said Bonnie. "It'll be hours before they realize that diamond shipment from Botswana didn't land where it was supposed to. It's kind of nice when you have people doing your dirty work for you, isn't it? There's nothing more wonderful than a little _me_ time, after all."

Bonnie had been monitoring the progress on her hijacking scheme for the last few hours. Technically it was Junior's operation as well, but Bonnie tended to do most of the mental heavy lifting when it came to their partnership in crime. Either way, the hijacking had gone off without a hitch. Bonnie wasn't particularly surprised. Their operations had been meeting with a lot of success lately. Maybe Global Justice, along with all the other authority groups she had to worry about, were busy with other things. She and Junior hadn't had a serious run-in with the law for years.

The magnificent view outside of the windows occupied Bonnie's attention for another few moments until a flash of white caught her eye. The envelope Junior had given her, still unopened, caught Bonnie's attention again. She opened it up and looked at the contents as Junior came back into the room with a martini. Stirred, not shaken, garnished a maraschino cherry stabbed by a little green cocktail umbrella.

"You're so good to me, Junior."

"What was in the envelope?" he asked.

Bonnie handed him the letter after looking over it for a moment. Junior read it, a little disinterestedly, and gave it back to his wife.

"Are we going?"

Bonnie considered her answer for a moment. Their latest scheme had ended in success, and Bonnie had no immediate major operations coming up. And it was interesting how she had just been thinking about how their schemes had not been foiled in a long time, because in addition to the absence of Global Justice or any other authorities meddling in Bonnie's affairs, there was another meddlesome person who Bonnie had not seen in years. Would seeing her again be a good idea? Bonnie answered her own question almost before she had asked it, and Junior did not have to wait long before hearing that answer.

"Definitely."

XX

The car sputtered jerkily to a halt in the small communal parking lot behind Ron and Kim's house. Annie undid her seatbelt and leaped out of the car almost before it had come to a halt, running towards the front door while Ron and Monique were still closing their car doors. Ron kicked one of the car's tires with an annoyed grunt.

"What's up with the abuse, Ron?" asked Monique.

"Didn't it seem like it was barely chugging along when I was driving it?"

"Seemed fine to me."

"I dunno," said Ron. "I remember when everybody was excited about getting hovercars in the future. Now we're _in_ the future, and we have hovercars, but only rich people have them! It isn't fair, I tell you!"

Monique thought there was something amusing in Ron's complaints about rich people, considering he and Kim were fairly well-off. Not that Monique wasn't doing alright for herself, but her friends had done quite well since college. Their house was not particularly large, but getting any house in the city itself instead of an apartment was not cheap. She had the feeling they could afford a hovercar if they wanted one. In this particular case, however, Monique's best guess was that Kim probably put her foot down on her husband's desires.

"Ron, it's not like they go more than a few feet off the ground anyway. And I hear their electro-buoys need to be changed even more than regular tires. The only reason people buy them instead of a regular car is because they're eye candy."

"What's wrong with eye candy? Besides, it's just the principle of the thing."

Ron decided he didn't feel like giving the car a closer inspection just yet. Instead, he grabbed his bag of baked goodies out of the trunk and walked to his mailbox. The only mail inside was a white envelope, and Ron did not recognize the return address. Kim was waiting for the two of them inside at the kitchen table, and after giving his wife a hug when he got inside the house, Ron dropped the envelope on the table beside her.

"What's that?" asked Kim.

"I dunno, I haven't opened it yet." Ron noticed the kitchen was looking neat and organized. "Aw man, I was hoping I could avoid making dinner tonight."

"Um, nice try, but I think Mon wants to eat something decent."

"Oh come on, you're getting better! I'm surprised you're home already though – that mission with Team Go must have been pretty short."

"Yeah, I think Aviarius is getting a little slower in his old age. He was complaining about his kids growing up the whole time we took him to jail, too – it was a little awkward. I swear, the next time I hear a pun about someone growing up and leaving the nest, I'm going to lose my mind." Kim noticed the bakery bag that Ron had set down on the table. "What's inside that?" she asked.

"Some goodies for after dinner."

Kim resisted the urge to open the goody bag as Ron went over the refrigerator and rummaged around for dinner ingredients, Annie giving him a helping hand. Monique was already sitting at the table and licking her lips at the sight of some of the things coming out of the refrigerator. Kim reached over and grabbed the envelope, opening it with a fingernail and unfolding a letter from inside.

"Dear Mr. And Mrs. Possible," she read, "You are cordially invited to the 19 year reunion of your graduating class at Middleton High School!"

Ron, who was cutting a cabbage, paused in mid-chop and glanced over his shoulder. "19 year reunion?"

"We apologize for not having organized a 15, 16, 17, or 18 year reunion," Kim kept reading, "but those reunions were canceled on short notice due to numerous freak fungal infestations of the high school."

"Why didn't they just wait until a 20 year reunion?" asked Ron. "And why do they have to host it at the high school in the first place?"

"I don't know Ron, I'm just reading the letter. I didn't organize the thing."

Monique listened as her friend finished the letter. She had forgotten to check her mail that day, but she assumed she had probably gotten her own invitation, and she was already looking forward to going. "When is it?" she asked.

Kim looked at the letter again. "Two weeks from now."

"Well, this totally rocks! You guys are going to go, right?"

"No way!"

Kim and Monique looked over at Ron's outburst from the kitchen counter. Even his daughter looked up at him and stifled a giggle.

"Well, I'm just saying, high school reunions are kind of a drag. There aren't many people I want to see from high school. Those things are just a contest to see whose life ended up better."

"Exactly," said Monique. "That's what makes them so fun!"

"Nope."

Monique sighed; she should have known Ron would be a tough nut to crack. "What about you, Kim - don't you want to see your friends?"

Kim thought about the idea of a high school reunion. She had to admit that she could see Ron's side of things. When it came down to it, Kim had always been an active person, always meeting a lot of people, but she had never been a social butterfly. Ron and Monique had been her only two close friends through high school.

"I've already got my friends here, Monique. I'd go if I got to see you again, but I already see you two or three times a week at least."

"You say that like it's a bad thing!" joked Monique. Kim smiled in response. "Anyways, you could catch up with some of the cheerleaders. It would be nice to see Tara."

"I guess that's true," admitted Kim. "And I guess we can always stop by our parents' houses for a little while if it's being held at the high school."

Kim thought about what her schedule looked like around the time of the class reunion in two weeks. She didn't always know exactly when her jobs were since she did not have a 9 to 5 kind of career, but the last-second missions that had dominated her high school life were less common nowadays, and she couldn't think of anything that would actually prevent them from going to the reunion.

"I wanna to see your old friends!" said Annie as she tugged on her father's shirt. "Take me to the reunion! I wanna see that evil girl you guys always talk about."

The room fell silent for a moment as Annie's comment hung in the air.

"You think she'd actually show up?" Monique asked her friends.

Kim did not know the answer.

"If she did show up, maybe that would be another reason not to go," said Ron. "I mean, maybe you'd just end up fighting with her the whole time, Kim."

"Oh come on, Ron. We've been out of high school for almost two decades – I think I've matured enough to be able to see Bonnie without acting like a teenager."

"Alright, just saying."

Kim thought about her old teen foe. She had not seen much of Bonnie after high school, although Kim knew she had run off with Junior, and she was more aware of Bonnie's life than even Bonnie probably realized. Showing her face at a class reunion would be a bold move on Bonnie's part, but Kim wouldn't put it above her. As for whether she _wanted_ to see her old nemesis at the reunion, that was a whole other question. A question for which Kim did not have an answer. Having to deal with Bonnie at a reunion might not be pretty.

But then, it could be interesting.


	2. Reintroductions

**Reintroductions**

XX

Two weeks had passed, and the evening of the reunion was at hand. The Possible family, along with Monique, had left their homes in Go City and arrived in Middleton a few hours ago. After a visit with Monique's parents, they were now driving to the class reunion at Middleton High School, and the school in question was just coming into view over the top of a hill as they drove through town. Ron was at the wheel, and he could swear he had been hearing sputtering noises coming from the car during their trip, but none of his passengers seemed to agree with him.

"You can't hear that? Listen!"

"For the last time Ron, we're not getting a hovercar."

Ron glanced into the rear view mirror at his daughter, who was showing Monique some pages of a magazine she was reading. "How about you honey?" he asked. "You're taking my side, right?"

"I don't think so," said Annie. "But nice try!"

Monique gave Annie a high five as Ron watched them in the mirror. "That's pretty harsh," he said.

Kim groaned as she held her stomach. They had just left Monique's parent's house, and while Kim liked Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins, the two of them had stuffed their guests with a huge dinner despite Monique's insistence that there would probably be a lot of food at the reunion. Kim had eaten it all, out of politeness. She was beginning to regret being polite.

"I could have sworn your parents were fattening us up for the slaughter, Monique."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Now you know how hard it was for me to keep that goddess physique going when I was in high school! I didn't have cheerleading to keep it together like you did. I don't know how I've kept it up since then, though. Good genetics, I guess."

"Uh huh."

The car pulled to a stop in the school parking lot as they reached their destination. The parking lot was a new addition that had been added sometime after their graduation, but the school itself didn't look much different despite being partially rebuilt after the Lorwardian invasion. Kim and Ron had visited Middleton High School a few times over the years during visits to their parents, and the only real change they ever noticed was that the building grew smaller in reality compared to the way it looked in their memories. Kim could already see a few other people arriving in their own cars, some crossing the parking lot on their way to the front entrance. Some faces she did not recognize, but some were very familiar.

They left the car and walked under the familiar overhang that led to the school's main doors. Upon entering, noise and laughter coming from down the hallway told them that the reunion was already in full swing even though they had gotten there a little early. A sign just inside the school's entrance read 'Reunion, that way!'. An arrow, drawn below the message, pointed in the direction of the lunch room.

"Are any of those yours?" Annie asked, pointing to a collection of trophies inside a glass case they had almost passed on their way down the hall. Kim was pleased with the opportunity to brag to her daughter – just a little bit, of course.

"Yes. That one right there, see?" Kim pointed to an award topped by a golden cheerleader enthusiastically shaking her pom-pons and kicking one leg into the air. "That was a cheer competition we won against Upperton. I was the leader of the squad, but it's an award for the whole team. Cheerleading is all about working as a group."

Annie nodded. She inspected the trophy with an air of great scientific curiosity before they finally left the case behind and entered the lunch room. Kim scanned the room and breathed a sigh of relief when she did not see Bonnie's face anywhere. Meeting Bonnie would be interesting, but Kim needed a little time to steel herself for the encounter. Right inside the lunch room doors, however, a familiar face greeted them from a seat behind a check-in table. Her figure was a little rounder than Kim remembered from high school, but her hair was the same brilliant platinum blonde hue.

"Hey guys! I'm so glad you came!"

Kim hugged her old friend across the table. "Tara! I haven't seen you in forever!"

"I know – but that's what reunions are for."

"Are you the one who organized it?"

"I sure am," beamed Tara. "But a couple of the other girls on our old cheerleading team helped me out. I'm still really good friends with Marcella, for instance. And my husband gave me a hand too."

"Oh yeah? Where is he?"

"Right over there!"

Kim followed Tara's finger with her gaze, hoping she might be surprised by a familiar face from high school, but she did not recognize Tara's husband. He was surrounded by several toddlers, all blonds, who seemed to be running circles around him as he watched over them with a flustered expression on his face.

"Those are my children – I'll introduce you to them later. We have some activities that the kids can do while the adults talk," said Tara. "That way we don't have to keep an eye on them for the whole reunion. Doug offered to keep them entertained and watch over them since he doesn't really know most of the people here. Didn't you, Doug?"

Doug looked up at the sound of his name, looking a little harried by the swarm of children around him, and smiled feebly at his wife.

"Anyway," Tara said as some new arrivals entered the lunch room, "I have to keep checking people in, but I'll catch up with you guys once things get started okay? Remember to take your class reunion party bags!"

Tara pointed at a group of colorful plastic bags set up on the check-in table. Ron gave his daughter a wink and tried to grab two for himself, but Kim slapped his hand and made him take one instead. Annie gave her father a sympathetic look that told him he might have better luck next time.

The round lunch room tables that Kim remembered so well had not been replaced, although they were covered in white tablecloth for the reunion. Glasses, plates, and silverware were arranged at each table, and the nearby lunch counter was filled with food. Something about serving the reunion food from the same metal bins that normally contained lunch food struck Kim as a little unappetizing, but she supposed it wouldn't make much sense to set up a new buffet counter. Fortunately, the smell seemed to be appetizing, and judging by a brief glance over the food, Kim could not see any of the unidentifiable gray goo that haunted her high school memories.

Beyond the tables, a small stage and a podium had been set up on the far end of the lunch room. The stage was empty, but the lunch room's tables were already beginning to fill up. As Kim walked from group to group and greeted old classmates and acquaintances she recognized, she noticed one table that was empty except for a single man, whose brown hair was still tipped with a coloring of frosted blond. Kim thought it looked a little strange on a man of his age, but then it did let her recognize him immediately.

"Josh!"

She raced over to give Josh a hug, trailed by her family and Monique.

"Hey Kim! Man, you still look like you're in your 20's!"

Josh gave Monique a hug as well. He shook Ron's hand warmly, although Ron was struggling to fight back a brief surge of jealousy that Josh's compliment towards Kim had triggered. He knew it was a bit immature – he and Kim hadn't seen Josh since high school, after all – but something about those frosted tips just brought back sour memories. Still, Ron felt himself get over the jealousy fairly quickly.

"And who is this?" Josh asked, leaning down to shake Annie's hand.

"That'd be my daughter, Annabelle."

"Annie, mom."

"Nice to meet you, Annie," said Josh. "I'm Josh Mankey."

"Oh, daddy!" exclaimed Annie upon hearing the name. "This is the evil monkey man you talk about sometimes when you and mom are thinking about when you were teenagers?"

Ron coughed nervously as Josh raised an eyebrow at him.

"Nope. Not Josh. You must have him confused with Monkey Fist. Definitely."

The group sat down at their table, about to begin reminiscing, when a burst of feedback attracted the attention of everyone in the room. The reunion attendees turned from their conversations and stared at the bulky man who had just walked onto the impromptu stage. Kim, Ron, Monique, Josh Mankey, and a number of their other classmates all gasped at the sight of the man. His hair was gray, but he had the same musclebound body they all remembered. The same austere military pose, the same brown suit and black tie.

"Hello everyone," said Mr. Barkin. "I'd like to thank Tara King for inviting me to this class reunion. A number of other teachers were going to be here as well, but they informed Tara and I that they would be unable to attend due to various previous engagements, freak accidents, and troubles with the law. Now, as your former teacher, coach, mentor, and life inspirer, I'd like to let you all know what kinds of activities we have planned for the – YOU! KEEP QUIET!"

Mr. Barkin pointed emphatically at someone in the lunch room. The unfortunate target of Barkin's attention gulped in fear, despite not having said anything.

"As I was saying, we will of course enjoy fond memories of the olden days with each other, we will enjoy the food at the buffet counter," - at this, Barkin pointed to the lunch counter - "and we will play some exciting party games. We even have some karaoke planned for later tonight. Afterwards, anyone who is interested can join us in a tour of Middleton and see what has changed in the last 1.9 decades, which should be interesting to those of you who were not doomed to stay in this town for your whole lives. Now, please engage in some well-mannered frivolity. But I'll be watching you!"

Barkin left behind a silent lunch room as he walked off the stage. After a few moments, someone decided it was appropriate to clap, and the rest of the room slowly followed suit, too confused to know what else to do.

"He seems like he has problems," observed Annie.

Kim and Ron, who were sitting to either side of their daughter, patted her shoulders and nodded in confirmation.

"Room for one more?" asked Tara as she scooted in with the rest of the table's occupants. "I got tired of checking people in, and it looks like everyone's here. _Almost_ everyone, that is," she said with an ominous look at Kim, who knew exactly who Tara was referring to. "Sorry about Mr. Barkin, but I thought it would be nice to invite him. I didn't know he'd stand up and give a speech."

"Hey," said Ron, "what would our class reunion be without Mr. Barkin?"

Almost in answer to his question, Ron nearly fell out of his chair as he was pushed aside by his former teacher's bulky physique. Mr. Barkin had just sat down in the last remaining spot at the table with a heaping plate of food. Annie helped prop up her father, narrowly saving him from a spill on the floor.

Barkin spoke through a mouthful of food as he looked around at his former students.

"Tho, you guyth talking about me?"

XX

The house was the same as Bonnie remembered it. Very elegant, very cold, and very distant. Like a museum. The absence of her sisters, however, was a big improvement.

"And here's Bonnie as a little baby! Oh, and let me tell you, right after that picture was taken she made a boo-boo in her diapie!"

Junior looked at the photo album Bonnie's mother was sharing with him and laughed uproariously.

"Oh Bonnie, your mother is so delightful! Just look at these precious photos of you as a child. It is too much for me!"

Bonnie looked at her watch as Junior and her mother laughed at her expense. She was glad to see it was about time to leave for the reunion, as she was beginning to grow a little tired of the photo album sharing. That being said, she was surprised to find that she hadn't minded the visit to her mother's house overall. Her mother still bugged her sometimes, but Bonnie's relationship with her was warm enough. Connie and Lonnie were another matter, but Bonnie hadn't seen much of them in recent years as they were too wrapped up in their own lives.

Bonnie's mother wiped her eyes after another bout of laughter. She turned to another page in the photo album. The page was filled with more embarrassing pictures of an infant Bonnie, but one picture featured her two sisters posing on either side of her. Bonnie's mother fell silent for a moment as she traced the picture with her hand.

"You know dear," she said, "I'm glad that you've made something out of your life. I had such high hopes for your sisters, and then they went and had all those children before they were ready. I tried to warn them, but you know Connie and Lonnie..."

"Yeah, I do."

Bonnie thought about her sisters as she stared at the picture. She didn't talk to them much, but she had heard enough from her mother over the years to know that they had both gotten involved with men too hastily and had children without any real planning. While such a thing might end up working out out for other people – people with luck, and without her sisters' personalities - Bonnie knew it had been a mistake for the two of them. All of their big plans had fallen by the wayside.

She knew the father of Lonnie's children had disappeared, and while Connie had gotten married, her life was not a happy one based on what little Bonnie knew of it. Years ago, Bonnie remembered gloating about her sisters' misfortunes, but she wasn't sure what she felt anymore. A little bit of sorrow and sympathy, maybe. And a lot of relief that she was not in the same situation. It had taken years to marry Junior, she remembered with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. Her brief time in college had also given her enough self-awareness to realize she wanted to avoid rushing into having children. Sometimes Bonnie wondered if it was only through sheer luck that she had avoided her sisters' fates.

"So, how are things at the radio station?" Bonnie's mother asked.

"Oh, you know. About the same as usual. We had a new, uh - a new show recently. It was a big hit. We should be bringing in some big money soon."

"Wonderful! You know I'm proud of you, Bonnie."

"Thanks mom."

Bonnie got up from the couch and gave her mother a hug, and Junior soon followed his wife's example. Her mother, regaining the breath that was knocked out of her by Junior's embrace, looked at the time on the wall clock and gasped in surprise.

"Didn't your class reunion start hours ago? You'll be late!"

"Yes, mom, fashionably late. It's how these things are done."

"Well, if you say so. Junior, it was wonderful catching up with you as usual. Stop by again soon, honey!"

Bonnie waved to her mother as she got into the hovercar with her husband. She didn't let Junior drive the car, partly because she didn't trust her husband's attention span, and partly because it was a brand new top of the line model. She'd be crushed if it got even a single scratch on it. As they drove away from her house and drew nearer to the high school, Junior fumbled with a CD jacket until he found one of his own albums and popped it into the player.

"Junior, we're going to be there any minute now."

"I just wanted to pump myself up for the meeting of your old high school friends, honey!"

"I don't know if 'friends' is the right word. And you've already met a lot of the people who will be there."

It wasn't long before the high school loomed up in the distance, lunch room windows glowing through the veil of twilight. A banner which hung over the front entrance welcomed Bonnie to the reunion. Seeing the building brought back a number of memories. Some good, some bad. Some great. Middleton High School had been her kingdom, and she its Queen. Not that she wasn't still a Queen – her focus had shifted from gossip and food chains to international crime, but royalty was royalty.

Bonnie parked the hovercar in one of the last available parking spots, beside a rickety looking excuse of a car that paled in comparison to their own. She laughed as she got out with her husband and looked at the neighboring car. Clearly, Bonnie was going to get a kick out of lording her success in life over some of the peasants who were bound to be attending the reunion. She grabbed Junior's hand, opened the school doors, and passed into her past.

"Ooh, look at that," Junior commented as they passed a trophy case. "Are any of those yours, my dear?"

Bonnie inspected the trophies. One of them was indeed hers. Several, actually.

"Yes, that one right there, see? That was a cheer competition we won against Upperton. I say 'we', but honestly I carried most of the weight, designed the routine, kept everybody's spirits up. You could say I was the de facto leader of the team."

"What is the facto?"

Bonnie stared at her husband, at a loss for words. Instead of answering his question, she took him by the hand and dragged him towards the lunch room doors, which were hanging ajar. Shapes moved within and the sound of music and laughter poured into the hall. Many of her old classmates would be inside, but Bonnie was hoping to see one person in particular.

XX

Kim had just told her daughter about the time in high school she almost disappeared as a result of going out on a date with Josh after being sprayed with one of Drakken's evil inventions. Annie looked thunderstruck that her mother could have been so stupid.

"Wow mom, even I wouldn't have done something like that. And I'm only seven!"

Josh and Ron both stifled laughter as Kim eyed them balefully. She had told the story expecting an amused reaction, but after hearing it out loud, she realized it did sound a little more ridiculous than she remembered. Even Monique was beginning to laugh.

"Okay, okay, that's enough of that," she said, blushing a little.

"So where do you guys live now?" asked Josh.

"We all live in Go City," said Monique. "I'm only a couple of blocks away from them, actually."

"No kidding? What do you do in Go City?"

"I own a fashion boutique."

Josh looked impressed. Monique was about to ask him what he did for a living, betting it probably had something to do with art, when a trio of two adults and a child approached the table and began to greet everyone sitting there. Monique recognized one of the adults as Justine Flanner – she looked older, of course, and a bit less severe, and her hair band was a little more colorful and snappy than Monique remembered, but otherwise she was unmistakably Justine.

It took Monique another moment, however, to recognize the man beside her. Brick Flagg looked completely different than he did in the hazy memories Monique dredged up from high school. He was still larger than average, but nowhere near as massive as he had been. His hair had thinned a little, and he wore a pair of glasses along with what Monique could only describe as a total poindexter outfit.

"Brick," said Mr. Barkin, who was still sitting with his former students, "what did you do to yourself?"

"Nice to see you too, sir."

Brick shook his old coach's hand and then turned to Monique, gathering her into a bone-crunching hug. "This is my wife, Justine," he said when he finally released his grip. "You remember her, right?"

Monique laughed. "Oh yeah, dinosaur girl!"

Justine looked a little irked at the nickname, which had floated around for a while after the Kinematic Continuum Disruptor incident at the high school, but she still gave Monique a warm hug.

"And this is our son, Madison."

The group at the table said hello to Madison, but he seemed a little shy, being partially concealed behind one of his mother's legs. Annie noticed his shyness and made a sudden move as if she was about to leap at him, which caused him to shrink back even farther. Kim shook a finger at her daughter in admonishment, but none of the other adults had noticed.

"I hope we haven't missed too much," said Brick. "We barely managed to get time off from the lab to go to this reunion, and there was no way to get a babysitter on such short notice either. I'm just glad they have some things for the kids to do." He looked up at the reunion banner hanging inside the lunch room. "Kind of weird to have a nineteen year class reunion, isn't it?"

"I just couldn't wait any longer!" said Tara, a little defensively.

The conversation was interrupted by the sound of a door swinging open and hitting the wall. The lunch room fell silent, faces from every table turning in unison to the origin of the sound. Two people had just entered the lunch room, gazing imperiously over the scene before them, and the sight of them cast a wave of apprehension over the reunion. Kim felt a deep, primal need to attack welling up inside her. She was surprised to discover that even so many years after high school, just the sight of her old nemesis could still raise such an intense reaction.

"Hello, former classmates," said Bonnie, brushing her hair dismissively aside. Her husband stood beside her and struck a subtle pose, as she had instructed him to do before they entered the room. "I have arrived!"


	3. Old Enemies, New Enemies

**Old Enemies, New Enemies**

XX

The lunch room's deathly silence continued as Bonnie stood in the doorway with her husband. She was pleased to hear someone at one the more distant tables, next to the lunch room windows, whisper something to his friends about seeing them drive in with a hovercar. Bonnie liked it when her good taste was recognized. She was a little jolted, however, by the sight of Tara King approaching her from across the room. She and Tara had been friends of sorts in high school, but they had not kept in touch afterwards.

"Hey Bonnie!" said Tara as the two of them embraced. "Sorry, I usually check in people at the table, but you're over an hour late so I left it for a while."

"Fashionably late," Bonnie corrected her. She looked at the piece of paper that Tara was scribbling on. "Checking people in? How come?"

Tara thought for a moment. "I'm not actually sure. It seemed like the thing to do. Maybe I'll send an email about who attended the reunion later? Anyway, here's a class reunion party bag!" she said brightly.

Bonnie looked at the bag and took it as if she was doing Tara a favor, and then walked into the lunch room with her husband as the noise level returned to normal. People seemed to have acclimated themselves to Bonnie's presence. Bonnie said hello to a few people, a little disconcerted that the popular and unpopular groups she remembered from high school seemed to be completely intermingled. Finally, she caught sight of the face she was looking for. The table was already close to full, but Bonnie and her husband would make room.

"Kim Possible!" said Bonnie, her face molded into a careful mimicry of civility. "So nice to see you again!"

"Please," Kim replied with a smile that was almost as cold as the one Bonnie was wearing. "Have a seat!" She motioned vaguely to the table, even though there were no remaining chairs around it.

Bonnie and Junior grabbed a pair of chairs from an adjacent table – one had a purse and coat that Bonnie had to remove before grabbing it – and scooted themselves in between the other occupants of the crowded table. A number of people in the room remembered the high school rivalry between Kim and Bonnie, always a hot topic when it came to school gossip, and felt their hopes dashed upon realizing that no cat fights had occurred at the moment of their contact. Still, an electric tension hung over the table. It was almost tangible, and it kept everyone on their toes – figuratively speaking - as they stared at the two former teen rivals. Monique and Josh both gave each other a look that suggested they were planning to bolt if fists began to fly.

Bonnie was silent for a moment as she gaped at the sight of Brick Flagg, who she had not recognized until she actually sat down at the table. Judging by the woman and child beside him, he had dropped a few rungs on the ladder of life since she had last seen him. Maybe her popularity had rubbed off in him in high school. Maybe the Brick she saw now was the result of years without her positive influence. Bonnie turned her attention back to Kim and thought about how to start up some small talk, but decided it was easier to talk about herself.

"So," she said, "I'm sure you all remember Junior, who I met back in high school. I think it was on one of your missions actually, wasn't it Kim?" Bonnie got a curt nod from Kim in reply. "Anyway, we're married now, and living fabulously exciting and sophisticated lives. Eating the finest food, buying the finest clothing, which I'm sure goes without saying. We do a lot of international travel, that kind of thing."

"How do you finance that kind of lifestyle?" asked Monique. "I'd like to travel more, but even a fashion boutique doesn't net me _that_ much cash." She glanced at Junior with an appraising eye. "Is your hubby there as loaded with cash as he is with muscle?"

Monique's roving eyes caused Bonnie to narrow her own. Her nostrils flared menacingly, which Junior seemed to pick up on some subconscious level since he quickly stopped smiling at Monique's attention and stared into space instead.

"Junior's family _is_ very wealthy," Bonnie admitted, "and his music career has done well. We've even met some celebrities thanks to his connections in the business. We get a decent amount of royalties from his albums."

"I am very popular in a small country known as Pittsburgh," Junior interjected.

Bonnie ignored her husband. "But even if it wasn't for all that, we'd still be wealthy. I'm doing quite well in my radio talk show career."

"I think you mean your career as an international criminal," Kim corrected her.

The silence at the table was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. Bonnie and Kim stared each other down, looking like two bulls that were about to charge each other and smash the table to pieces in the process. Both Monique and Josh twitched a little, as if preparing themselves to leap out of harm's way. After what seemed like an eternity, Ron coughed awkwardly.

Josh shrugged. "I'm not surprised."

The table's other occupants stared at Bonnie, waiting for her to confirm or deny Kim's statement. Bonnie glared for a moment, a mixture of anger and surprise stewing in her chest. She had not been aware that Kim Possible knew about her career path after high school. Bonnie considered denying it for a moment, but she decided if Kim already knew about her extralegal hobbies and could actually do anything about it, she would have done something already. The very fact that she and her husband were here at the reunion and not in prison meant that Kim had nothing solid against her.

"I'll put it this way, K." Bonnie smirked at the way Kim tensed a little at hearing the condescending, one-letter address that Bonnie used for her in high school. "I do like to dabble in some activities that might not be the kind of wholesome, white-bread things you and Stoppable spend your time doing."

Speaking Ron's name out loud made Bonnie really notice him for the first time. Although she had been focused on Kim, she had seen Ron at the table when she first sat down, but the sight of them together was so ingrained in her mind that she hadn't thought about the implications of both of them attending the reunion together until now. When she looked at the red-headed, freckle-faced young girl who sat in between them, Bonnie connected the dots in her mind.

"Wait a minute," she said to Kim. "You actually _married_ Ron Stoppable?"

"Ron Possible now, actually", Ron corrected her.

Bonnie stared at Ron for a moment, then back to Kim, then back to Ron again, then to their daughter, and finally blinked several times as if making sure she was not hallucinating. She let out a raucous laugh. Junior joined her, although he had been distracted and wasn't sure what they were laughing at.

"You couldn't find an upgrade in college, Kim?" Bonnie shook her head with mock sympathy. "That's really rough. Honestly, I'd be less surprised if I saw you with Shego tonight."

"Yeah well, joke's on you," said Ron indignantly. "Shego's with Adrena Lynn! Last time we saw them, they said they were giving up the life of crime and moving to some tax haven in the Caribbean after Shego made all that money on her autobiography."

"Yeah," Kim mumbled as she thought about the book. "Drakken sure wasn't happy about that one."

"The book, or Adrena Lynn?"

Kim thought for a moment. "The book, but good question."

Bonnie was not interested in Kim and Ron's former foes, but she couldn't help but be interested in why Kim Possible hadn't stopped her many illegal capers if she knew about Bonnie's choice of profession. "So Kim," she asked, "how come you haven't put me in jail yet, if you think you know so much about what I do with my time?"

"Oh, I'm sure I'll do it soon enough," Kim said. "I've been keeping an eye on you for years now, but Ron and I have been a little caught up in raising a family." She nodded to her daughter. "That, and you're not exactly my area of expertise. I notice you like to carry out your little stunts by proxy. You're not really a supervillain – sneakier than most supervillains, maybe, more careful for sure, but you don't invent anything or try to take over the world. You're basically just a common criminal."

Bonnie bristled at what she knew was an insult. Kim might have a point about her activities not falling into the supervillain realm, but she knew she was much more than a common criminal. Junior's father, as annoying as he could be, had instilled Bonnie with a certain sense of pride in her work. There was a certain grandiose air to what she did, an elegance. If anything, Bonnie thought of herself as having more finesse and taste than supervillains did.

"And what about you, Kim? Are you and Ron still freak fighting? I can't imagine living comfortably off of that. You guys did it for free, didn't you?"

"Actually, I convinced Kim to charge," said Ron. "For certain cases, anyway. We'll take a call from a rich client sometimes and make a lot of money, but we still help people for free, although we don't do missions in general as much as we used to."

"For shame," said Bonnie with a grin. "Lost your passion and sold out, huh?"

"Having a kid changes things a little, Bonnie," Kim replied. "We wanted to make enough money and have enough flexibility to give ourselves more free time to raise Annie. I do missions and consulting work from time to time – security, that kind of thing – and Ron runs his own bakery now. He was doing mail-order baking for a while, too."

"Muffins were the most popular order!" Ron said excitedly.

"Doesn't sound as lucrative as what I do," said Bonnie.

Kim shook her head. "It probably isn't. But we like to enjoy a little dignity and self-respect in between paychecks."

Bonnie folded her arms in annoyance, unable to think of a retort. Dignity and self respect – Bonnie snorted at the ludicrousness of Kim's attitude. If only Kim had entered politics or high-level corporate management – then she'd make her eat those words. Kim had always been concerned about right and wrong, always trying to mold the world into something it was not. Bonnie had seen how futile that was, even in high school. She knew how the world worked. She knew that if you wanted something, you had to take it.

As Bonnie thought about Kim's attitude, she realized that it hadn't changed at all since high school. Kim Possible was still little miss perfect, still flagrantly violating the natural order of things. Moralizing, marrying a geek, starting her little nuclear family. Or maybe not. Could a nuclear family have one child, or were two required? Bonnie didn't know the answer. She did not think about it for long, however. Now that her initial attempt to outdo Kim in terms of life achievement hadn't gone quite the way she intended, Bonnie felt an overwhelming urge to dominate her old foe in something. Anything.

"You know, Kim, I was just thinking about all those cheer routines we did in high school."

"Uh huh."

"After popping out a kid and slowing down on your missions, you must be getting a little out of shape. Kind of sad how things change, huh?"

"Speak for yourself, Bonnie."

Judging by the way Kim's hand was clenching a handful of tablecloth, her knuckles as white as the fabric, Bonnie knew that she had taken the bait.

"What do you say we get a little fresh air and have a little contest out on the football field, huh Kim?"

Kim nodded quietly and got up from the table. Ron looked like he was about to get up too, but Kim held a palm out to stop him.

"Stay here, Ron. And keep Annie with you. This could get ugly."

"Aw, I wanna see mommy beat up the evil lady!"

Bonnie made sure Junior wasn't going to tag along either – she wanted to be able to focus entirely on Kim when they got to the field – but she didn't have to worry about holding her husband back, as he was clearly not interested in leaving the table and didn't even seem to be paying attention in the first place. She followed Kim through the lunch room door as the rest of the table watched them in silence.

"Is mommy going to be okay?" Annie asked her father.

Ron nodded hesitantly. "Uh, yeah. Mommy and Bonnie just have to work a few things out." He looked down at his plate of food, which had been emptied, and decided to get another helping. "I'll be back in a minute, honey."

Ron left the table for the lunch counter, looking over all the options available. A little spaghetti, some egg rolls, an Indian vegetarian option – it looked like Tara had tried to go for a certain international flavor without getting too fancy. Ron was a skilled cook, but he was not a gourmand – everyday fare was perfectly tasty to him. Years of eating at Bueno Nacho had instilled a cosmopolitan attitude towards food in him. Although he had to admit there were certain exceptions – it was good, for instance, that the lunch counter tubs were not filled with _actual_ lunch food, of which even high school memories still had the power to make Ron retch.

As he began to pile a new helping onto his plate, Junior came up beside him and picked up a plate for himself, not having had the chance to eat anything since he and Bonnie had arrived. Bonnie's mother had fed them, but like Ron, Junior could always go for more.

"Ron Stoppable," he said as he looked at Ron and remembered his old enemy, "I am interested to know – were they always like this in high school?"

"Kim and Bonnie? Oh yeah. I was kind of hoping things would be different at the reunion, but I guess those two are never going to get along."

Junior ladled some soup into a bowl. The food was not quite as sophisticated as what he was used to – not a single lobster, truffle, or hunk of foie gras could be seen – but he was hungry all the same. Junior laughed as he thought about his past with Ron.

"I suppose we were once like that as well, no? Do you remember that battle we had with the hair styling and the comb?"

"Oh yeah," smiled Ron. He looked up at Junior's hair. "I see you're still using Le Goop."

"Are you not? Hmm, I suppose I can see that you are not. Your dressing has much improved since I last saw you, but you must handle the cowlick issues."

"Thanks for the tip."

"You know," observed Junior as they rejoined the rest of the group at the table, "I must admit that I miss our little fights. I am surprised that you and Kim Possible have not attempted to interfere with myself and Bonnie. I keep waiting to see Kim drop into our lair with a witty comment or some such thing, and yet it does not happen. You were a worthy opponent when you did not run away."

Ron remembered their fights, which – as far as he could remember – mostly consisted of slapping and hair pulling. Junior had a point, though. Going on those missions with Kim could be terrifying, but over time, Ron had come to find them exciting in their own way. And as far as supervillains went, Ron always preferred fighting the Seniors to going up against a foe like Monkey Fist.

"Well, you never know, Junior. Maybe we'll see more of each other in the future."

"Maybe so, Ron Stop – er, Possible."

XX

Steve Barkin gazed over his old domain from a seat on the empty football bleachers. He had left the lunch room earlier since his old students were all involved in conversation with each other – that, and he had felt a sudden urge to wander the school grounds.

A lone football lay still in the end zone on the far end of the field, where he had thrown it earlier. The football was surrounded by an expanse of green and powdered white, drenched in the gaze of the evening floodlights. Goalposts stood guard like sentinels at either end of the field, their arms frozen as they reached for the sky. To Barkin, the football field was a long-forgotten second home.

Barkin had been shooting a few hoops inside the basketball court earlier, but he was getting older, and it had not been long before he found himself beginning to feel worn out. He was still a bulky man, but some of that bulk had turned to fat in the course of old age, and his body did not respond to his will the way it used to. Now he was outside cooling down and enjoying a little fresh air. Sitting, watching. Enjoying the memories. If he smelled hard enough, Barkin could almost pick up a whiff of sweat in the air. Maybe it was an echo of those carefree days as Middleton High School football coach.

Or maybe it was the fact that he had just been shooting three-pointers inside for the last fifteen minutes.

Barkin remembered the teams of children who ran back and forth across the football field like human waves, natural and poetic in their movement. He remembered the chants, the screams, the thundering roar of the audience when the Mad Dogs made a touchdown. He even remembered the cheerleading routines, which had been particularly spectacular during the time that Kim Possible held the post of head cheerleader. Those were the days.

And these were not the days. Barkin had lost his job as a gym teacher back in the Second Great Depression of '13, and while he had kept up substitute teaching at Middleton, sometimes even getting other odd teaching jobs in neighboring towns and cities, things had never been the same. His Smarty Mart job had kept him afloat for a long time after teaching was no longer a reliable source of income, but then the Middeton store had been shut down after Smarty Mart stock plummeted following the pubic revelation of holo-cam indiscretions by a certain Martin Smarty.

Barkin had tried to find a position in some of the newer chain stores, including a Brainy Bazaar that opened in place of the old Smarty Mart, but he found that his age and past experience worked against him. Being overqualified was more of a strike against him than he had expected. He remembered telling a young Ron Stoppable before his graduation about the center not holding. Perhaps Barkin had been overreacting in Ron's case, but as for himself, he knew he had no center anymore. And now here he was, trying to grab hold of a past that was already long out of reach.

The sound of soft footsteps across the turf interrupted his thoughts, and Barkin looked up to see Kim Possible and Bonnie Rockwaller storming onto the field. They were arguing with each other, red in the face, and they didn't even notice Barkin as they made a beeline to the middle of the field. Barkin noticed that the two of them were both carrying pom-pons.

"What's going on?" he asked them.

"We're having a contest," Kim replied, a little surprised to see Barkin over on the bleachers. She had not noticed when he left the lunch room earlier.

Bonnie nodded in agreement. "We're going to work out once and for all who's the best cheerleader."

Barkin felt his spirits perk up at the mention of a competition.

"I'll be the judge!"

XX

The class reunion was at its peak, and the lunch room was bustling with activity even though various people had wandered off to other parts of the school in order to reminisce about their teen years. Taking a break from his incessant eating, Ron watched his daughter over in the section of the lunch room that had been devoted to children and wondered how his wife was doing in her grudge match against Bonnie.

Annie seemed to be hitting it off alright with Brick and Justine's son. Madison, if he remembered the name right. Tara's husband Doug was also playing with them. Although Annie had complained about being too old to hang out with some of the other children, Ron was glad he had sent her away from the table, since the topic of conversation was turning to relationships, old crushes, and other romance-related subjects. He didn't want to be giving his daughter any ideas about dating in the near future. Not until she was thirty or so.

"Well," said Tara in response to Justine's question about how she had met her husband, "I was jogging through the park and kind of ran into him."

"You're kidding me," gasped Justine. "What did he say?"

"Oh, he actually apologized a lot, even though it wasn't his fault. Doug's just like that. He never gets angry. He had a mocha cappuccino in his hand, too, and it spilled all over him." The table laughed at the mental image.

"I really should get back into jogging again," Tara said as she patted her stomach. It had definitely taken on a few pounds since high school, although it wasn't bad. "The problem is that Doug's too great a cook! Anyway, what about you guys?" she asked Brick and Justine. "I had no idea you two were interested in each other – when did that happen?"

Brick and Justine looked at each other with a grin.

"Actually," said Brick, "we were kind of dating each other in secret after I graduated from high school. And we knew each other before that. I really dug her intelligence, and I guess I was kind of feeling trapped in the whole jock image that everybody had of me. That, and I didn't want to go to college being the dumb guy who got in on a football scholarship and had nothing else to offer, you know? So I guess those insecurities really made me admire Justine, and that's why I first got to know her."

Monique was shocked that the high school gossip mill had never given her this tidbit. "How did I never find out about this?" she asked.

"You never asked me," Justine replied. "And I didn't really share much of my personal life with people back then."

"We also didn't want to deal with Bonnie if she found out about it," said Brick. "She can be a little scary, even when you're not going to school with her anymore."

"I know exactly what you mean," said Junior. "I love her, but oh boy, sometimes..." He trailed off after realizing that maybe he was saying a little too much.

Josh Mankey had been enjoying the conversation, but there was one person whose relationship status piqued his interested more than anyone else, seeing as she had not come to the reunion with anyone else. "So what about you, Monique? You're seriously still single? I just find that hard to believe."

While his flattery was transparent, Monique enjoyed it.

"Flattery will get you everywhere. But yeah, I guess I've just never been the type to settle. I like having close friendships, but when it comes to relationships I'm a little harder to pin down." Josh raised an eyebrow at her, which Monique noticed but chose to ignore. "I guess I kinda like my independence. Not that there's anything wrong with the kind of thing Kim and Ron have together."

"Sure," Josh said. "I'm pretty similar, actually. I have a bad case of singleitis, but I travel a lot as part of my job so I don't like to be tied down anyway."

"And you like to keep yourself free for all the international ladies, I bet."

Josh laughed. "That's a little too generous. I don't think I'm charming enough to pull off some kind of traveling Casanova deal. What do you take me for, Monique?"

"I dunno - you tell me!"

Ron had never been the most observant of people when it came to romantic interest, but he thought maybe there were a few sparks flying at the table. Josh and Monique's conversation seemed to be dominating the table, as Brick and Justine were a little subdued and Junior had disappeared.

He began to wonder where Junior had gone until he noticed his old foe talking to Doug over in the children's area and playing a board game with a couple of the kids. Ron felt a brief hint of worry – Junior was the husband of an international criminal, after all, and for all Ron knew he was a partner in her crimes – but he supposed that as far as bad guys went, Junior was about as harmless as they came. Even when he was with his father, Junior had never seemed very interested in supervillainy. And from what Ron could see, he seemed to having fun with the kids.

Junior wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but Ron felt like, given enough time, he could almost learn to like the guy. He only wished that Bonnie and Kim could move past their differences and come to some kind of understanding as well. Of course, Ron thought to himself, maybe Bonnie's choice of career path made that idea a little harder to swallow. It certainly didn't look like either of them would be any closer to each other after the reunion than they had been in high school. Maybe, Ron thought with a wry grin, they'd even rip each other to shreds before the reunion was over.

His grin soon disappeared as he began to wonder if that outcome could actually be possible.

XX

A blast of air whooshed through Bonnie's hair as Kim landed with a thud on the turf, inches away from her, completing a triple somersault that Bonnie would have had trouble pulling off even in high school. Bonnie was convinced that her routine had been superior, but Kim certainly hadn't let herself slide over the years. Mr. Barkin stood up from the bleachers and clapped enthusiastically.

"Well done, well done! I declare Kim Possible the winner."

"_What_? Are you blind?"

Barkin shook his head at Bonnie's query. "No. No, I am not blind."

This was a travesty. Bonnie should have guessed that Barkin would play favorites.

"Whatever. Clearly you're going senile. I'm out of here!"

Bonnie left the field in a fury as Kim watched her exultantly, green eyes boring into the back of Bonnie's head as she flung the school doors open and stormed inside. Kim knew that Bonnie's dramatic behavior was as as close to admitting defeat as she could ever get. She had been a little worried after seeing Bonnie take the first turn and pull off an admittedly impressive routine, but Kim's last somersault had probably been what cemented her victory.

"Thanks, Mr. Barkin," she said as she turned to her old teacher. "Don't worry about her, she's just a sore loser."

Barkin nodded and sat back down on the bleachers.

Kim was about to leave the football field and go back to the lunch room so she could gloat to Monique and Ron when she noticed that Mr. Barkin was not following her inside. She realized that he had been sitting out in the bleachers, alone on what was becoming a chilly night, when she and Bonnie had come out to compete with each other. As she looked at his downcast expression, she had the sinking feeling that Barkin wanted to talk about something. Probably something very awkward. She walked back to the bleachers and took a seat beside him.

"Something wrong?"

Barkin nodded, and Kim prepared herself for what would inevitably be a very uncomfortable conversation.

XX

Annie looked up from her game and glanced over at the table, noticing her father wave to her in the middle of a conversation with some other adults. She waved back. Annie was a little bit embarrassed that her father was waving to her, and while she didn't know why, she knew it had something to do with Madison. She supposed that it was because she wanted to show Brick and Justine's son, who was a little older than her, that she was not just a child.

"Do you think your mom killed her high school friend?" asked Madison.

"No! Don't be silly. Nobody kills each other at reunions."

Annie tried to sound sure of herself, but based on the few times she had heard her mother talking about Bonnie Rockwaller in the past, she had to wonder if she was right. They had been gone a long time. Annie wondered how long it took to finish whatever cheering contest they were having.

"This game is giving me a headache," Junior announced as he threw his piece petulantly on the board. "I do not understand what I am supposed to do now!"

Annie looked down at the board. She was winning but Madison was in close second, and Junior was not doing well – although he had insisted that he had never played the game before. A couple more pieces had been set up for Tara's children, but they were a little younger than Annie and Madison, and Annie found it hard to prevent them from rolling across the board when they escaped from Doug's watchful eye. She had long since given up trying to get them to actually play the game.

"You can move your piece there," Annie said as she pointed to a square with a posh-looking holographic building in its center, "and buy Madison Avenue for 500 dollars."

"Hey, that is like your name!" Junior said, pointing to Madison, who blushed a little. Annie noticed his reaction sympathetically. "I find the real estate prices in this game to be highly unrealistic," Junior continued.

"It's just a game."

"Perhaps we can play something else?"

Annie looked around the play area. There were a few more board games laying around, but she didn't think Junior would like them much better. One game did come to mind – it had been her favorite when she was younger, and it only required a pair of hands, but Annie felt like she was a little old for it. Still, it might be the kind of thing that would amuse Junior. Annie sighed. Hopefully Madison would not look down on her for teaching Junior pattycake, and Annie was more interested in doing something else, but she supposed she had to humor Bonnie's husband a little since he was spending time with them.

"Okay," she said as she pushed the board game aside. "Put up your hands."

Their game was interrupted just as it started by the sound of the lunch room doors flying open and hitting the adjacent walls. Annie looked over and saw Bonnie Rockwaller standing in the doorway. Kim, however, was not there.

Annie remembered an expression her father had used a few times in the past when he was referring to missions. She didn't know what had happened between her mother and Bonnie, but Annie hoped she wasn't going to have to open up a can of monkey-style butt-kicking in the next few moments.

XX

* * *

_**Notes** - Okay, this chapter was a little longer than the previous two, hope you guys don't mind. The next chapter will probably be similar in size. Thanks for all the reviews so far, I'm glad you guys are liking this - people like reunion stories I guess._


	4. Accidents Will Happen

**Accidents Will Happen**

XX

Bonnie threw open the lunch room doors in an entrance that should have been even more attention-grabbing than when she and Junior first arrived, but no attentions were grabbed. The reunion attendees were too busy chatting, trading stories of the old days, and generally having a good time to notice Bonnie's foul mood. She stalked amongst the tables until she reached her own, sitting down in a huff.

This was not the way the reunion was supposed to have gone. Bonnie was successful, independent, wealthy, living a fabulous life with a gorgeous husband. The world was her oyster. And yet here she was, compelled to compete against Kim Possible even though she hadn't seen her in years until tonight. And just like in high school, Kim Possible always had to come out on top. If there was a spotlight, it would be trained on that red head of hers at all times.

She looked around the table and noticed that her husband was not there. Brick and Justine were chatting with Ron, who gave Bonnie a nervous nod as he looked around for his wife's impending entrance. Tara was off mingling with some guests at other tables. Monique and Josh Mankey were missing, and she could not see them anywhere in the lunch room.

After scanning the room for a moment, she found her husband over in the children's area, playing some kind of a game with some of the kids. Tara's children were there, and Bonnie recognized another child as Brick and Justine's son, Madison, and the remaining child was Kim and Ron's spawn. She expected herself to growl in protest when she saw Junior playing some ridiculous hand game with Annie, counting and slapping his palms together – why was her husband pattycaking with the fruit of Kim's loins? However, a different emotion welled up inside her. Bonnie wasn't sure what it was, but it wasn't anywhere near negative enough. She felt thrown off balance, unsettled.

"Bonnie!" shouted Junior from across the room. "Come over here! Annie has taught me a wonderful game that you play with just your hands. I did not know such games existed – you do not have to buy any kind of electronic device at all!"

Bonnie groaned as half the lunch room looked at her husband and laughed. She considered ignoring him for a moment, but decided the best way to avoid further embarrassment was just to come over and join him with the children.

"Did you finish your fight with mommy?" Annie asked her when she sat down beside her husband.

"Yeah. I thought she was behind me, but I guess she's chatting with Barkin or something."

Annie felt relieved; no immediate butt-kicking would be necessary.

"Who won?" she asked.

Bonnie did not answer.

"I see," Annie said after observing Bonnie's expression. The non-response told Annie all she needed to know. "You must be really competitive like mommy is. I guess I'm kind of competitive too. I have a girl in my class that I'm fighting with all the time, just like you and mommy do, except we're on a debating team and not a cheerleading team. Belinda thinks she's so much better than me, but all she does is make the other person look bad instead of saying why they're wrong. Mom told me it was a called an 'ad bombing him' attack. I don't know what ads or bombs have to do with it though. Maybe mommy was saying Belinda is just like a spammer."

As Annie carried on her enthusiastic one-sided conversation, Bonnie realized that she did not know how to speak to children. She was glad her husband was beside her, since he seemed to be hitting it off with the kids much more easily. Maybe it was something about how Junior was so easy to amuse and childlike in his own way. Bonnie loved her husband, but he could definitely be childlike sometimes. Some people just never completely grew up, Bonnie thought. She was glad that she didn't have that problem herself.

Annie carried on talking a little more until Bonnie decided to distract her with something that she could actually participate in doing. Anything was better than sitting and staring awkwardly at the kid.

"Um, I heard you were playing pattycake – can I try it?"

XX

The classroom was empty. Unfortunately, so were the closets.

Monique had been hoping to find one or two of the outfits that she had made long ago in her high school design classes, but nothing looked familiar. It wasn't surprising; there was no reason to assume the school would hold onto outfits that were decades old, although a part of Monique had been hoping that maybe her old outfits were outstanding enough to be kept for future generations to imitate as a perfect design model. Her disappointment soon turned to excitement, however, when she rooted through a box of old clothing designs for a few moments and found a familiar folder of papers.

"Here! This is it!"

Josh leaned over and looked more closely at the pictures.

"See, this one got me an A+!" Monique shouted excitedly. "Oh man, I was totally hoping to find something like this."

Monique felt herself caught off guard by a blast of nostalgia. Snapshots of her teen life trailed through her mind as she looked over the designs. Arguing with Kim at the mall about Club Banana lineup choices. Cutting fabric, sewing buttons. Forcing Ron to serve as a clothing model and laughing with Kim when they made him try on dresses.

She couldn't even remember exactly what class she had made the designs in – maybe it had been a home economics class in which the teacher had recognized Monique's eye for fashion and aesthetics. Looking at the sketches and notes with the eye of a a professional fashion designer, Monique thought her old clothing designs were a little embarrassing, but she was still happy to see them. More importantly, she doubted Josh knew much about clothing design, which meant that he'd be impressed no matter what she pulled out of the folder.

"Those look awesome!" exclaimed Josh.

Monique nudged him playfully in the ribs with an elbow.

"Alright alright, no need to suck up there, Joshy boy." She took the folder of designs and tucked it under her arm as she got back up from the floor, where she had been fishing through everything she had pulled out of the closet. "I think I'm gonna keep these for personal use. It's not stealing if it was my stuff to begin with, right?"

"Definitely not."

Josh grabbed Monique's hand and pulled her out of the classroom.

"Uh, where are we going now?" she asked as they raced down the hall.

"Well, if we're up here searching for memories, I wanted to see if any of my old artwork is still around," Josh said as they entered the art room.

A few half-finished paintings were propped up on easels, left from whoever had been using the class during the previous week, but Josh made a beeline for the cabinets under the art room sink counters. Monique waited as he sifted through stacked paintings, sheafs of paper, art supplies, broken clay sculptures, and various other assorted knick knacks.

As time passed, however, Monique felt a little bad to see that Josh was not having the kind of luck she did. She saw discarded artwork and sculptures from a number of students shoved into the cabinets – whether they were past or present students, she did not know – but apparently none of the works belonged to Josh. She personally thought the artwork did not compare to the stuff she remembered Josh drawing in high school, but then maybe she was judging the artwork she saw now a little harshly. Josh reached the last cabinet in the row and finally gave up after finding nothing from his time in school.

"Sorry," she said as he got up.

Josh shrugged nonchalantly, although Monique could see he was disappointed.

"That's alright. I wasn't really expecting to find anything, but I guess it would have been nice. To tell you the truth, I haven't done a lot of painting in a long time."

"No kidding? What do you do, anyway? I don't think you ever told me."

"I work for a travel magazine. They send me to various places and I write reviews for things, talk about the food, the local atmosphere, hot night spots."

"Writing? I didn't know you were interested in that."

"I'm only a passable writer, but I knew the right people and wanted to see the world and just got really lucky when I got the job opportunity. I think sometimes you have to compromise between your passions and whatever's gonna pay the rent. I mean, it's a fun job, I could do a lot worse."

Monique had to agree. What Josh did sounded like the coolest job in the world – second to owning a fashion boutique, of course. She had been able to do something with her passions that also paid well, but she knew she was luckier than most.

"Well, that sounds like a good deal. You should really take up painting again if you've gotten out of the habit, though. Even if it's just for a hobby. I saw some of your stuff in school, you were really good. And you were complaining about being perennially single earlier - that kinda artsy stuff is the way to a lady's heart, you know."

"Oh yeah?"

"Sure. Right behind playing an acoustic guitar and writing songs with her name in the title, of course." Josh laughed at her comment as she winked at him. "I mean, hey, the sensitive artist thing worked on Kim, didn't it?"

Josh laughed. "I don't think we went on more than a few dates from what I remember, but yeah, I guess so. Kim's taken though, and that was a long time past. This is the present."

"Well, Kim's not the only woman around."

"Is that right," said Josh.

He noticed a twinkle in Monique's eyes, and his question hung in the air between them in the midst of a heavy silence. Josh knew that he could be a bit of a flirt without thinking about it, and it looked like their conversation had just dropped them off in a place he had not expected. Not that it was a bad place to be, Josh thought to himself. He liked to make the best of things as they came to him.

His back hit the edge of the art room counter as Monique inched a little closer and gave him a look that could melt butter. Which, coincidentally, was about how his legs were beginning to feel as he leaned back and felt her draw closer to him.

Josh had never known Monique that well in high school, even though she had definitely caught his eye from time to time. But while the girl in his memory was pretty, the woman in front of him now was drop dead gorgeous. Time had definitely been Monique's friend.

"Are you trying to seduce me, Miss Jenkins?"

Judging by the way her hands felt snaking around his back, the answer was yes.

XX

Kim looked out over the empty football field and felt like she had been run over by an eighteen-wheeler. She had not come to the reunion expecting to be utterly depressed.

"So that's my life story ever since I stopped teaching," Barkin said. "I thought it would be interesting to go to this reunion and look back on things, but I miss the old days, and I suppose there's something depressing about seeing you young punks doing better than me.

"I mean, look," he quickly added when he realized how the comment sounded, "I'm happy to see my former students doing well, seeing as it means I taught you lazy punks enough to make it through life, but I guess I can't help but measure that success against my own."

Saving the world was easy business for Kim, but dealing with her old teacher's lack of direction in life was a whole other bag of worms. Kim had never experienced any problems with purpose and direction; she had felt like she was on a path ever since she could remember thinking about such things in the first place. If anything, the pace of her life hadn't slowed until Annie's birth forced it to slow down.

"If your students are doing well, that is a kind of success for you too, isn't it?" Kim said. "You basically said so yourself."

"True. It's just hard to see it that way sometimes."

"I can understand that. I think you're a very competitive person, like I am."

Kim thought about why she had come to the reunion, and how things had gone with Bonnie so far. "I think it's natural for people like us to end up measuring ourselves against others. That's one of the drawbacks of being competitive, though. You can't treat life like it's a big game. You don't win or lose anything, it's just about whether or not you're happy."

Steve Barkin thought about the last couple decades of his life and wondered if his old student was right or not. Kim Possible had always been one of his brightest students, but she was also an optimist. Someone with a better view of human nature than he had. His time in the military, his time playing and coaching football, and his experiences in the job market all made him wonder if life was a competition because people treated it that way. Even if someone didn't want to see it that way, they'd still be forced to play the game. People measured up, or failed to measure up, because others would measure them whether they liked it or not.

"You know," Kim said, "you always seemed like a very driven person when you were our teacher in high school. I know you definitely influenced Ron to apply himself more, even if sometimes it was just through the sheer terror of having to deal with you without his homework done."

"You don't say."

"Yep. It seems to me like you've let your life stall, like you've let a few setbacks bog you down. Which isn't really the Mr. Barkin I remember. You have to keep pushing yourself to go forward, even if it means going one step at a time and keeping your head down instead of letting the big picture overwhelm you. You have to find things that make it worth getting up every morning and getting through the day.

"And partly it just seems like you're lonely – which, if you don't mind me saying, might be a side of effect of your tough personality." Kim watched Barkin, worried that she might be insulting him, but he didn't seem to be bothered by the comment. "Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it has its benefits, but you need to let yourself be a little more open and friendly. People usually don't bite, you know. If you're nice to them, they're nice to you."

Kim's sympathy increased when she remembered something Ron had told her in the past about Barkin. Something Barkin had told Ron himself shortly before their high school graduation. Apparently, Barkin had been a star player on the football team as well as one of the most popular kids in school. He had even saved the world – at least, that was what he had claimed to Ron. Mr. Barkin's life must have gone downhill since then, Kim thought. She felt her curiosity rise at the thought of her old teacher saving the world, and considered asking him under what circumstances that had happened, before stopping herself in the fear that bringing up his teen years might depress him even further.

"What do you like doing?" she asked him. "Maybe you need to apply yourself to something, make some goals for yourself in life."

"Let's see - I like to collect pictures of cats. Cats with human clothing on, posed like they're playing instruments, poking through flowers and out of water pails, that kind of thing."

As Kim processed this information, the chilly football field was quiet save for the chirping of crickets.

"Okay... uh, let's put that one on hold. What else?"

Barkin squinted his eyes, deep in thought.

"I don't have many hobbies. My hobbies were always my jobs. I enjoyed playing football, and then coaching after I got my bum knee in the war," - Barkin twisted his leg into an awkward position to demonstrate the bum knee, at which Kim held back a reflexive gag - "and I enjoy selling quality merchandise to people."

"That's why you worked at Smarty Mart."

"Correct, Possible."

Kim thought about Barkin's passion for retail. It would give him something to do everyday, but working in retail probably gave him more opportunities to interact with other people as well. She had realized that, as uptight as Barkin appeared, working in retail and as a teacher suggested that maybe he liked other people more than he let on.

"You know," she said, "There's a branch of the Brainy Bazaar superstore in Go City. Have you heard of it?"

"Oh yes," growled Barkin. "I've heard of them."

"Well, uh, that's good. I know you said you tried to get retail jobs after Smarty Mart shut down, but you just have to keep pushing yourself forward. I mentioned the store in Go City because Ron used to work there for a while when we got out of college. His reputation over there is pretty good, as far as I know – if you wanted to, we could try to put in a good word for you if you apply for a position there. Ron and I would be happy to serve as references for you."

"You mean it?"

"Yep!"

"Yes, that's right," said Barkin, "you guys live in Go City, don't you! Maybe if I got a job there I could stop by your house sometimes. We could talk about the old times. The two of you were always my favorite students, you know."

"Really? Ron always thought you had a personal grudge against him."

"Yes, but that's one way in which I express my favoritism."

"Oh."

Barkin's face brightened at the thought of moving to a new city and trying to get a fresh start on life. Kim was happy to see that she was beginning to get through to him, but she began to wonder if she had made a horrible mistake.

The two of them had been sitting in the bleachers for a long time as Barkin talked about his woes, and Kim didn't want to keep Ron and her daughter waiting for much longer, but she felt a certain dread at returning to the lunch room with her old teacher. She did not know how her husband would react to the idea of Mr. Barkin moving to Go City and living near them, but she had to admit that Ron freaking out seemed like a distinct possibility.

XX

"And that's when she fell down the escalator, right in front of Josh! And then she ran away like a crazy person. For no reason at all!"

Annie and Madison laughed at Bonnie's story. Annie in particular found the image of her mother falling down an escalator in front of a boy she was trying to impress to be one of the funniest things she had ever heard. She wondered why her mother had never told her that story before.

"Did you ever embarrass yourself in front of a boy you liked, Bonnie?"

"Me? Of course not."

Annie had the feeling that she had just been told a lie, but she also had the feeling that there was no point in arguing about it. Bonnie was funny, but she did not seem like she would be as easy to argue with as her mother and father. She was about to ask Bonnie for more funny stories about her mother when Madison tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to the stage and podium set up to the side of the lunch room.

"Isn't that your dad?" he asked.

Annie looked over at the stage, and sure enough, her dad – along with the large man who was married to Bonnie – were coming up on the stage. The adults had been doing some karaoke for a little while now, and it looked like her father was going to have a try. A song began to play over the loudspeakers as the lights dimmed in the lunch room. People sitting at the lunch tables clapped and whistled.

"I know this song!" Annie said. "Isn't this a song that your husband made?" she asked Bonnie.

"Yeah. It's one of his biggest hits. _You Make My Heart Go Woo Woo._"

"My dad really likes this song. Sometimes we dance to it together, but he's a really dorky dancer. I thought you'd like to know, since you know so many embarrassing stories about my parents already."

Bonnie smiled at Annie's comment. Kim's daughter was right; the image of Ron dancing to one of Junior's songs was almost enough to make up for Kim's unfair victory in the gym earlier. Bonnie watched as her husband gyrated wildly on stage, Ron following suit and providing backup vocals.

Junior's vocals had improved exponentially over the years, after having taken numerous singing lessons – although, to be honest, an exponential improvement over the way he sang years ago ended up translating into Junior being a slightly-above-average singer today. Slightly above average was good enough, however. When it came to the music industry, being ruthless tended to get a person into places that they could never dream of going otherwise. Especially in Pittsburgh.

"What are you doing?"

Bonnie jumped at the sound of the shrill voice. She looked across the lunch room as a flurry of wild red hair burst through the hall doors and strode towards her. The karaoke music kept playing, but Junior and Ron had stopped dancing on the stage. Bonnie shrank back a little as Kim Possible approached her.

"Why are you talking to my daughter?"

"What, am I not allowed to do that?" asked Bonnie. "Chill out, K."

Kim looked from foe to daughter and tried to calm herself down. She had been taken over by a surge of anger when she saw Bonnie Rockwaller laughing and talking with Annie. Bonnie may not be a supervillain, Kim thought, but she was still a criminal. She wondered why Ron was not around until she saw him up on the stage with Junior. All of sudden her entire family was getting chummy with the enemy.

"Look, I just don't think you need to be hanging around my daughter, Bonnie. I don't need you teaching her how to lie, cheat, and steal."

"It's not that big a deal, mommy," said Annie. "She was just telling me about some high school stories! Like when you fell down the escalator in front of Josh!"

Kim narrowed her eyes at her old nemesis, and Bonnie felt an indignant sense of anger welling up inside her. Okay, so she had been poking fun at Kim, but she had been making an effort to be nice to Annie, and this was the reaction she got for it?

"Jeez Kim, you think I came to this reunion to corrupt your kid or something? Everything always has to revolve around you, doesn't it? It's not my fault your daughter likes me more than you."

Kim barely restrained herself from slapping Bonnie. She knew she had been letting things get to her, and she didn't want end up in a fight at her reunion with someone she hadn't seen in years, right in front of her daughter. But something about Bonnie's comment had needled her more deeply than she had expected – it was the last straw.

"Ron!"

"Yes honey?" Ron stepped down from the stage.

"I'd like to leave now."

"But Kim, the reunion isn't over yet! What about the tour of Middleton?"

"We see Middleton all the time, Ron. I want to leave."

Kim gave him a look that made it clear her request wasn't really a request so much as it was an order. Annie looked up at her father questioningly, and Ron gave his daughter a shrug.

"Bye Annie," said Madison.

Annie looked a little embarrassed at the farewell, since numerous people in the lunch room were staring at them, but she supposed she didn't want to leave without saying goodbye to Brick and Justine's son. He was a little dorky, but he was alright.

"Bye Madison."

Kim's family followed her as she stormed out of the room, although saying goodbye to a number of people at various lunch tables took a lot of the wind out of her storm. After getting Tara's number and promising she would keep in better touch with her, Kim and her family left the lunch room, but not before she gave Bonnie one last glare as the doors closed behind her.

XX

Monique finished buttoning up her blouse and decided to check to see if the coast was clear while Josh tried to tease his hair back to a less frazzled state in the art room mirror. Monique edged the art room door open a crack and peered out; no one was in sight.

"You ready to go back to the reunion?"

"Sure," said Josh.

No sooner had Monique walked out the door than she smacked straight into an imposing chest, almost falling backwards. Mr. Barkin was standing right in front of her. He looked sternly at his two former students.

"I hope you two weren't engaging in any monkey business in the art room."

"Of course not," said Josh. "How could you think such a thing?"

A cloud hung over Mr. Barkin's features as he looked Josh up and down, but finally he decided that he had no incriminating evidence against Mankey.

"What are you doing up here, anyway?" asked Monique.

"Just thinking over some things, taking a walk. Checking to make sure everything is in order," said Barkin. "Carry on!" He continued walking down the hallway as Monique and Josh raced in the other direction, giggling to each other in a decidedly non-adult way.

"Is it just me, or can that guy be a little scary sometimes even when we've been out of school for years?"

"It's not just you," said Josh. "Does he even work here anymore? I seriously can't tell."

"Don't ask me."

Monique walked down the hallway, still cooling down from their encounter in the art room. She began to wonder whether she had just make a mistake. Seeing her classmates and reliving old memories had been a lot of fun, and she was surprised to find how much she enjoyed meeting Josh again, seeing as she hadn't paid that much attention to him in high school. Despite that, maybe she was giving him the wrong impression. Monique had meant it when she talked about not sticking with boyfriends for very long. It really didn't bother her that much – she enjoyed the single life. Josh had said something similar, but it was hard to tell if people always meant it when they said such things.

"Uh, hey Josh."

"Yeah?"

"In there, it was great and all, and you seem like a really good guy, but -"

Josh put a hand on her arm as they approached the lunch room. "Hey, don't worry about it. We were enjoying ourselves, but I'm not expecting anything else."

"Alright. That's good." Before she opened the doors, Monique glanced at Josh with a grin. "You know, maybe we'll see each other again at the 20 year reunion."

"So, you mean, next year?"

"Yeah."

"You bet," he laughed.

The sound of karaoke singing washed over them as they passed into the lunch room. An unfamiliar former student was up on the stage, belting out a show tune. Monique looked around; she noticed many of her classmates' faces where they still sat talking at their tables, but her own table was missing five occupants, other than her and Josh.

Monique would not be devastated if Bonnie left, and Junior was not exactly a scintillating conversationalist even if he was a choice piece of eye-candy. However, Kim, Ron, and Annie were also missing. Seeing as they had been Monique's ride to the reunion, she couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. As much fun as Josh had been, she didn't think the two of them had been missing for _that_ long.

XX

Nineteen years after graduation, and Bonnie hadn't changed a bit.

Kim knew she shouldn't have been surprised. People like Bonnie didn't really change. Especially not when their bad habits were only encouraged once they got out of school. Bonnie had graduated only to fall into the lap of luxury through her relationship with Junior and his father. It was only natural that she'd act just as entitled, just as childish, just as holier-than-thou as she had in high school.

But that wasn't really what had bothered Kim so much. Bonnie got on her nerves and brought down what otherwise would have been a surprisingly enjoyable reunion, that was true, but Kim found herself most upset by her own behavior. She was an adult now – soon to be a middle aged adult – and she had a husband and child, and yet she found herself going back to her old ways only minutes after seeing her old high school nemesis. It always had to be a contest with Bonnie.

"I don't know why you got so upset about Bonnie's story, mommy," said Annie as she leaned into the front seat between her and Ron. She had enjoyed talking to Bonnie, but she had been a little disappointed her mother hadn't gotten in a fight with her old classmate. That would have been cool. "You were telling us about that time Ron saved you while you were on a date with Josh, and that was embarrassing."

"It's just different, honey. Put on your seatbelt. Are we about ready to leave?"

"Yes," said Ron. "The key didn't work the first few times I tried to switch on the ignition. I'm telling you Kim, this car is on its last-"

"No hovercar, Ron!"

Her husband sighed as he backed slowly out of their parking space.

Kim tried to cheer herself up with the fact that they would soon be at her parent's house, where they would stay overnight and catch up a little over the rest of the weekend. She felt her daughter squeezing her shoulders from the back seat and smiled; Annie always had a knack for sympathetic gestures when she knew her mother was in a bad mood.

The next thing Kim felt was a jarring bump when their car backed into something behind them.

"Ron!"

"Oh man. Guess I should have checked the rear view mirror."

A high-pitched screech tore through the parking lot, coming from the car behind their own. It took Kim a moment before she realized the sound came from human being and not squealing tires. She and her family got out to find Bonnie and Junior exiting their own hovercar.

"_Kim?_ Unbelievable!"

"What are you doing out here?" Kim said. "You were just inside!"

"Um, we decided to leave, thanks to your poisoning the atmosphere, K!"

Kim pointed to the front of their hovercar. "You didn't have your lights on! How are we supposed to see you behind us at night, huh?"

"Oh, whatever! Do you know how much this thing costs compared to your trash heap? I hope you're as well off as you claimed you were, Possible, because let me tell you-"

"Come on guys," said Junior, "can we not all agree to let bygones be bygones?"

"Junior, let me handle this."

"But sweetie-pie, I just-"

Ron looked over his own car as Bonnie began to turn her anger towards her husband. He was about to remark to his wife that at least no serious damage had been done when he heard an odd thunking sound come from beneath their vehicle. As he watched, one of the wheels rolled off into the parking lot and the car's front corner dropped down, hitting the asphalt. Everyone involved in the fender bender stopped talking and watched as the wheel rolled away, eventually bumping into a curb and falling on its side with a somewhat comical splat.

Ron leaned down and glanced underneath the car. He wasn't sure what it was supposed to look like, but he knew that big piece of metal probably shouldn't be lying on the ground.

"Uh, we might need to get a ride from you guys," he said.

"Certainly, Ron Stoppable!"

Kim and Bonnie looked murderously at their husbands, while Annie observed the whole situation with a smirk. She sure was glad her parents had decided to attend their class reunion.

XX

The ride to Kim's parents' house started out very quietly and very awkwardly.

Before long, however, Ron and Junior were striking up a conversation in the back seat while Kim and Bonnie stared stonily ahead in the front. Annie sat between her father and Junior, feeling a little bit crushed by all the room Junior took up, but it was better than being stuck in the frozen atmosphere of the front. Junior had begun to mention a few details of old schemes he and his wife had carried out, with Bonnie interrupting him a few times to tell him to shut up, but the conversation was now turning to less sensitive subjects.

"I am still flattered that you are aware of my work, Ron Stoppable," said Junior, referring to their karaoke duet of Junior's song at the reunion.

"What can I say? Your song makes _my_ heart go woo woo."

"Ahaha! That is very amusing - you are too kind!"

Ron looked around the plush interior of the hovercar's backseat, admiring the workmanship. Not that he knew anything about car workmanship, but still, it sure looked slick. He bounced up and down a little on the seat, wondering if it made the car appear to bounce in the air to anyone watching it pass by.

"This sure is a nice hovercar."

"Indeed it is. You should consider purchasing one – it is like floating on air, except it is not you but the car which is floating. Very ingenious!" Junior pulled a card from his shirt pocket and handed it to Ron. "This is the dealership where we bought the car. They have some very nice deals."

"Come on Kim," said Ron, "can we buy one?"

He nudged Annie to try to get her to join in his plea, but she knew better than to take sides.

"You're never going to let me hear the end of this, are you?" said Kim.

Ron shook his head with a grin as he watched his wife's exasperated expression in the rear view mirror. "Probably not. I can't help it - I want what I want!"

Kim's glanced back at Junior. "It's not some kind of illegal criminal supervillain dealership, is it?"

"It is not."

Kim sighed and leaned her head back in her seat, realizing there was no way to win against her husband's childlike persistence when it came to certain things. She thought a hovercar was a waste of money, but she supposed money was something they had more than enough of. And maybe the accident was a sign that she _had_ insisted they keep their old car a little longer than they should have.

"Alright, I'll think about it."

Ron and Junior reached over Annie's head to give each other a high five, and Annie could not help but throw up her own hand as well. The hovercar slowed down a little as it entered a familiar Middleton neighborhood, and finally pulled to a stop in the driveway of the Possible house. Kim, Ron, and Annie got out of the car, and Kim was about to grudgingly thank Bonnie for the ride when her parents came out of the front door.

"Hello," said James Possible as he walked up to the hovercar. "That's a nice ride you've got there."

Junior leaned out of his window. "Thank you!"

"Why don't the two of you come in and join Kim and Ron for a bite to eat?"

Bonnie was about to turn down the offer, the last thing she wanted being to spend time around even more members of the Possible family, when her husband cut her off just before she opened her mouth.

"We would love that, sir!"

XX

* * *

_**Notes** - one chapter to go_. _ This chapter's pretty lengthy, but I felt like it should all be together and there wasn't any point where it needed to cut in half._


	5. A New Page

**A New Page**

XX

Midnight had passed and Annie had already been put to bed, but the Possible family and their two guests were still chatting in the living room. Monique had called earlier to tell Kim that she was going to take the tour of Middleton and hang out with Josh a little more. Seeing as Kim had totally forgotten about her friend until getting the holo-call, she was relieved that Monique only looked a little peeved at being left behind.

Kim yawned as she listened to Junior telling a tale of his escapades in the music industry. Had she or Bonnie been given the choice, Bonnie would have left already and Kim would be fast asleep, but their two husbands were keeping the conversation going well into the night.

"And so after we regained our consciousness the next afternoon," Junior said as he finished his tale, "we finally found Britina in the bushes below her third story bedroom window. Do not worry - she was alright, other than the two sprained wrists from the handstand the night before, but it was quite the out of control album release party, let me assure you!"

Ron laughed uproariously at the tale, while James Possible frowned a little disapprovingly at its conclusion. Anne noticed her husband's expression and rolled her eyes, laughing with her son-in-law.

"So what about you, Bonnie?" asked Kim's mother. "You've been fairly quiet all evening. We know what Junior does, but what do you do? I personally thought you showed some aptitude for the medical field when you shadowed me during that career study you had in high school."

"Me?" Bonnie seemed a bit flustered by the question, but collected herself quickly. "I'm a radio talk show host."

Junior smiled as he wrapped his arm around his wife. He was used to her using that excuse around anyone they did not know well. Kim watched the two of them and caught Bonnie giving her a strange look: not anger or impetuousness, but nervousness. As if Bonnie was waiting to see whether or not Kim would contradict her and reveal what she really did. Kim was fairly sure her parents knew about Junior's father being one of her old supervillain foes, but she didn't think they were aware of Bonnie's activities since high school. She had complained about her high school nemesis as a teen, to be sure, but she hadn't really mentioned Bonnie much since then.

"Radio talk show host," James mused. "Didn't think anyone listened to the radio anymore."

Kim felt the urge to strike down Bonnie's lie for the second time that evening, but something made her hesitate. Both she and Bonnie had been fairly quiet ever since they left the reunion; being anywhere near each other after the events of the evening was tense and awkward. The few times Bonnie had said anything, however, was when she had been talking to Anne. Kim wondered if Bonnie had some kind of respect for her mother that she was not aware of. She remembered Bonnie shadowing her mother during the job fair, but Anne certainly hadn't mentioned it since then. Whatever was the cause of Bonnie's strange expression, Kim finally decided she wouldn't say anything.

Junior's music industry tales had come to an end, and even Ron was starting to look a little tired, although he was still nibbling on a slice of pizza left over from what they had ordered earlier that night. The lull in conversation seemed to suggest to everyone in the living room that the night was drawing to a close. Bonnie took the opportunity to get up from the recliner she was sitting in. Her husband joined her.

"Well, I think we're going to start our trip home. It's a ways away, after all."

"It's pretty late," said Anne. "You two are welcome to stay the night. I'm sure Ron will be cooking breakfast for everyone in the morning," she said, winking at her son-in-law as she volunteered him into cooking duty.

Bonnie didn't want to deal with waking up and spending the morning around Kim, even though she was tempted by the memory of Ron's cooking in high school. She politely declined the offer.

"It was nice catching up, Ron," said Junior as he shook his old foe's hand.

"You too. I'll keep an eye out for your next album."

"Oh, that reminds me!" Junior pulled a card out of his pants pocket and handed it to Ron. "If you ever happen to be traveling through Europe – maybe with Kim on one of those silly crime-fighting missions of yours – feel free to drop by one of my performances. That is a VIP pass, with locations and dates, and even a ten percent discount on tickets!"

"Wow! Thanks dude!"

Ron looked awed at the gift, even though Kim thought ten percent was a fairly laughable discount. She escorted Junior and Bonnie to the front door with her family, and before Bonnie stepped out onto the driveway, she turned awkwardly back to Kim, unsure of whether to say goodbye or give her the cold shoulder.

"Um, well," she began, "This was interesting."

"Yeah."

A cool night breeze brushed past Bonnie, making her shiver. She looked back at her hovercar, which her husband had already entered to avoid the cold, and remembered the accident earlier. Fortunately their car had barely sustained a dent, which was more than she could say for Ron and Kim's heap of a car. Still, Bonnie felt a tiny, barely perceptible twinge of guilt – almost an invisible twinge, really - when she thought about how Kim had covered for her real profession around Anne Possible.

Bonnie remembered seeing Anne's career as a neurosurgeon as a teen and being very impressed. Anne had been very friendly and encouraging mentor, giving her tips on her future, telling her that she was quite the perceptive observer. The day had stuck in Bonnie's mind for some reason. Not that she was ashamed of what she did, and she certainly wouldn't apologize for it. But she supposed she didn't want Anne to criticize her. Bonnie grudgingly admitted that maybe she owed Kim - just a little.

"Uh, look, I don't know who was at fault in that accident, but Junior's right about the hovercar being pretty cool. You guys should get one. And I guess since I'm filthy rich, I can spare a few bucks to help you along. Don't thank me or anything, K. I'm just trying to be charitable."

Kim gaped at the comment as Bonnie fished a bill out of her wallet, slapped it in Kim's hand, gave the rest of the Possible family a hasty goodbye, and got into the hovercar with her husband. She looked down at the bill incredulously as the hovercar reversed out of the driveway and ripped down the street at breakneck speed. The peace and quiet in the neighborhood would have been shattered by the squealing of tires, had electro-buoys sounded anything like tires.

"What'd she give you?" Ron asked, sidling up to his wife and staring at her palm.

"A twenty."

"Man, it's like we're winning the lottery tonight!"

XX

The smell of Ron's indescribably good cooking filled every nook and cranny of the kitchen. Kim and her family waited in anticipation for Ron to finish making breakfast. It was the morning after the class reunion, and while some of the events of the night before still grated on Kim's nerves, her anticipation of breakfast was erasing all of that. Bonnie and Junior were already gone, Bonnie having insisted that they leave the night before. Monique also sat at the table, still a little miffed that she had been forced to bum a ride off Josh leaving the school in order to get to Kim's house.

"Sorry again for forgetting about you, Monique," said Kim.

"Yeah, sure."

Monique wasn't actually that angry, but she still felt like toying with her friend a little. Kim had already been apologizing profusely ever since Monique got dropped off at the Possible house late last night, and Josh had defused some of her indignation during the Middleton tour before she could take it out on her best friend. Still, acting peeved was providing her with a some extra morning entertainment.

"I'm kind of surprised you invited your old cheerleading rival to visit us, Kimmie-cub," said James Possible as he sipped his cup of coffee with a chuckle. "The way you complained about her back then, we thought we'd never hear the end of it!"

Normally, Kim was used to the fact that her father still used the childhood term of endearment to refer to her after all these years. This morning, however, it was a little annoying when combined with his false accusation.

"You're the one who invited them into the house, dad."

"She's right, honey," said Anne.

James frowned and put his cup down as he recollected the previous night.

"Hmm. I suppose you're right. I thought if you were getting a ride home with her, you must have gotten along with her at the reunion. I assumed that maybe you mended some broken fences."

"Not when I was forced to get a ride from them because someone _broke our car_."

Kim raised her voice at the end of her sentence, and a startled clatter from the kitchen counter indicated that Ron knew exactly who his wife was referring to.

"She didn't seem like the type you would expect to be a radio talk show host," said James. "I would have thought that would actually take quite a lot of hard work, and, well," - James thought about how to put it - "she didn't look like the working type. Her husband certainly wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, either."

"He's not gonna be curing cancer anytime soon, but he was a lot cooler than I remembered him," Ron said in Junior's defense. He turned off the stove and began piling his breakfast on plates for everyone at the table. After serving was finished, he grabbed his own plate and sat down with everyone.

"Junior isn't very bright," Kim agreed with her father, "but Bonnie's smarter than she first appears. She's shallow, completely self-absorbed, but she could be clever when she needed to be, even in high school. She just never applied herself. I guess after she graduated, she got a bit of a work ethic."

Kim thought about Bonnie's choice of career with a smirk. Being an international criminal probably did take a work ethic, even if it was applied to doing bad things. Kim didn't feel like spending the whole morning talking about Bonnie, however. Instead, she gave Monique an inquisitive look as she began to eat her scrambled eggs.

"So Monique, I saw you were hitting it off with Josh last night. Are we talking new boyfriend material?"

Monique, always eager to partake in a little gossip even if she happened to be personally involved, was about to relate all the juicy details of the previous night when she noticed Annie stumble into the kitchen, apparently just waking up at the smell of her father's cooking.

"Bacon?" asked Annie, her bleary eyes immediately brightening as she sniffed the air.

Perhaps her story wasn't exactly Annie-friendly. Not to mention that she wasn't sure just how much Kim's parents would enjoy the story. She frowned a little as she sat back in her chair, realizing that maybe she would have to hold onto some of the details for later.

"Uh, it went alright. He's a charmer, I'll give you that. But I don't think either of us are interested in anything too serious."

"No?"

Kim smiled at her friend. She was used to Monique avoiding anything too serious, but Kim liked to nudge her in the direction of guys she thought would work for her. "It's not the end of the world if you actually get a serious boyfriend, you know. I mean, Josh would sure be an improvement compared to that last guy. What was his name? Don?"

"Uh, I don't even remember," Monique laughed.

"Well, my point exactly. I bet you'd like Josh if you gave him a chance. And Wade could look him up in ten seconds, you know, if you didn't already get his number last night."

Monique rolled her eyes. "Yeah, with his amazing phone book reading technology. We'll see, okay?"

Kim grinned as she went back to her food. She knew that was the best she'd get from Monique.

The breakfast was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. Ron got up to answer it, knowing who was arriving, and came back to the kitchen with his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Stoppable had moved out of Middleton a long time ago, but being an actuary, Dean's job took him to many different places, and they had time to stop by and say hello while passing through town.

"Hey guys!" Kim said as she gave everyone a hug.

"Hello, Kim," Mr. Stoppable said. "Has Ronald talked to you about the hovercar yet? I've been doing some research and it might actually be a wise investment."

Mrs. Stoppable shook her head. "His friend George bought one, and he decided it looks neat."

"Gotcha."

Ron got a few more plates of breakfast for his family, having made a lot in anticipation of their stopping by in the morning, and they sat down to eat.

"How's Hana's training program going?"

"We know about as much as you do," Ron's father said. "They're keeping her very busy over there at Yamanouchi, and she doesn't like to give us too many details. But she sounds like she's enjoying herself, and she said she was looking forward to getting a break and visiting the two of you."

Ron looked a little disappointed at not getting any more about of Hana, but he knew the program was fairly secretive. He still kept in touch with Yori, Sensei – who seemed to live forever – and Hirotaka, but he hadn't visited Yamanouchi in years, and he was no longer the monkey master he had once been.

Experiencing the power he had wielded as he fought the Warlordians after graduation - and seeing the consequences of that power - had brought a heavy weight on Ron's conscience for a long time. Finally, he had decided that he did not want to follow Sensei's path. The wizened old teacher had understood Ron's reservations, but Ron could tell he was disappointed. Ron's connection with Yamanouchi had been strained afterwards, although it had gotten better over time. Hana, however, was on a semester-long training and exchange program in Yamanouchi, following her own path. Where that path was taking her, Ron did not yet know. But he had faith that his sister would excel in whatever she chose to do.

"She said she'd be interested in taking on Aviarius with Kim sometime, and she heard that there were some nice clothing boutiques in Go City," Ron's father continued.

"Nope," Monique said with a grin. "They all stink."

Everyone around the table fell into a brief silence as they focused on digging into Ron's delicious breakfast. Kim was enjoying a bite of her hash browns when she suddenly remembered something from the reunion that she had forgotten to tell Ron. She swallowed her bite, deciding that it was better to tell him sooner rather than later, even though it wasn't the best way to thank him for such a good meal.

"Hey Ron."

"Yes?"

"Um, I was talking to Mr. Barkin during the reunion in the gym, and it's kind of a long story, but..." Kim thought about how to delicately broach the news to her husband, gave up, and went for the direct approach. "Well, he might be moving to Go City and getting a job there and hanging out with us a lot."

"_WHAT?_"

XX

A couple of days had passed since the reunion, and Bonnie and Junior were back in their palace-villa-lair combination residence. Bonnie was glad to be home. After all, she thought, there's no place like home. She remembered some poverty-stricken rural girl saying it in a movie she saw a long time ago. Why the girl had said it, Bonnie had no idea, seeing as she would rather die than live in the character's home – it was so tiny that a tornado had sent the whole thing flying straight into the air, for God's sake - but the quote worked in Bonnie's situation.

She lay back in her massive water bed and looked at the bright blue sky outside the open balcony doors. A cool breeze blew into the bedroom, ruffling a glass vase of daffodils on her dresser that she had ordered a few henchmen to pick for her that morning. She had no work scheduled for today, and she was enjoying a lazy morning in bed. Junior was in the shower, humming one of the songs on his second album. The sound of his moderately competent singing reminded her of the karaoke at the reunion. Junior had seemed to enjoy the reunion, even though he didn't really know anyone there very well besides Kim and Ron. Bonnie was undecided about whether she had enjoyed it or not.

Things certainly hadn't gone the way she planned. She had expected to be the center of attention at the reunion, just like she was in high school, and yet no one had paid much attention to her. It didn't help that Kim had immediately outed her criminal escapades – not that Bonnie was ashamed of them, but she knew her classmates would hold it against her. All in all, she hadn't been able to lord her life over her old classmates, least of all Kim.

Kim Possible. Still little miss perfect – or _Mrs._ perfect now, Bonnie reminded herself. Still trying to be the best at everything. Now _there_ was a person who hadn't changed one bit since high school. Bonnie had thought she would gain some pleasure out of seeing Kim at the reunion. In some part of her mind, she had expected that Kim's freak fighting and her association with the likes of Ron Stoppable would have dragged her down in life, but it didn't look like that had happened. Seeing Kim again had been largely unsatisfying.

And yet, that daughter of hers had been interesting. Bonnie had almost enjoyed talking to Annie, even though she normally didn't talk to children. She couldn't help but admit there was something adorable about the girl. Junior seemed to like her, too. He had been playing with all of the kids at the reunion, actually. Something about the way her husband had gotten along with them so well, something about watching Junior with Annie and that child of Brick and Justine's – it had set off a spark in her. Bonnie had been thinking about that part of the reunion ever since the two of them had left Kim Possible's house.

The sound of water running in the shower stopped as Junior finished up. He came out after a moment, clad only in a towel around his waist and a smaller one wrapped around his head. Bonnie snorted at the sight – she had no idea why Junior felt the need to wrap a towel around his head when he barely had any hair. Junior flopped down on the bed beside her, almost launching her into the air as the water rippled beneath them.

"Did you enjoy the reunion, my dear?"

"It was alright."

Bonnie's thoughts strayed back to her brief stay at Kim Possible's house. Being around Kim had been awkward, and her father's sense of humor had that good-natured corny quality that grated on Bonnie's nerves. Again, Annie had been cute enough before she went to bed, although Bonnie guessed that she would probably grow up to be a pain like her mother someday. Still, they were all clearly happy together. They were a happy family.

Bonnie and Junior, along with Señor Senior Senior, were also a family. One to which Bonnie had grown very attached, despite the many foibles of Junior and his father. She loved Junior, and he and his father had been there for her during a rough time in her life. After she had finished high school, she had found herself with no idea of what to do with herself. Bonnie had tried college on for size, but the experience had been very different than what she was expecting, and ultimately it hadn't worked out. What was more, all of her popularity, all the social connections she had enjoyed in high school, seemed to melt away as she grew up. It had been a shock to her system when she realized so much of what she had taken for granted about her identity had been so insubstantial and meaningless in the end. But Junior and his father had been there for her.

Señor Senior Senior had taken her under his wing, confiding in her that his son did not seem very interested in his line of work. He trained her in the art of villainy and gave her something to do in her life. Something beyond sunbathing and shopping, as much as she loved those activities. He had given her skills and abilities that made her proud. Although Bonnie's criminal activities were a little more subtle than those of her father-and-law, his help and advice had been invaluable.

Her father-in-law was ridiculously wealthy, and after the money they sunk into trying to force Junior into the music industry, his albums were making a small profit. But thanks to Senior's help, Bonnie could also make her own way in life if she wanted to. She was not dependent.

So Bonnie had a family that she appreciated, a family that made her happy. But when she had gone to the high school reunion and seen Kim with her family, Bonnie had realized that there could be an addition. An addition that would definitely please Junior's father, for one thing.

What if Bonnie chose to have a child? Could she raise a child? Bonnie thought she would be a good mother – certainly better than her incompetent sisters - and she could provide for a child. But then, what about her career? Hijacking, money laundering, scams, a number of other things – was a life of crime really what she wanted to teach to her child?

Bonnie had no moral qualms about what she did, but she didn't like the idea of her child going to jail if she chose her mother's path in life. She didn't like the idea of going to jail herself, either, but she knew that wouldn't happen. Kim Possible would never catch her, much as Kim might think otherwise. Bonnie wasn't blatantly obvious like Kim's regular foes were. She had subtlety. On the off chance that she and Junior _did_ go to jail, though - theoretically speaking of course - that would leave her daughter without parents to raise her. Put into a stranger's care, probably.

Kim Possible could never convince her to make different choices in life, but just the sight of Annie was making her start to question things. She liked what she did, but maybe she didn't have to do it forever. Maybe people did change a little sometimes, after all. There were a lot of pages left in the book of Bonnie Rockwaller's life.

Bonnie smirked. There was something amusing about the thought that she might be defeated, not by Kim Possible, but by her own biological clock.

"Hey, Junior."

Junior looked up from the fashion magazine he had been reading.

"Look at this! There is an article about Monique in this-"

"Junior, listen."

Her husband put the magazine away and shifted on the bed to face her.

"Yes, my love?"

"Let's have a kid."

A moment of silence that filled the bedroom was quickly replaced by the sound of Junior's laughter. "I have not heard you use this new way of seducing me, Bonnie," he said, "but it is interesting."

"I'm serious. What do you think about it?"

Junior thought for a moment. He knew his father had been haranguing Bonnie about grandchildren for a long time now, but he had always been under the impression that his wife wasn't interested. Had his father managed to change her mind?

"I do not know. Tell me, is this just to compete with Kim Possible, since she has a little child of her own?"

"What? No. Of course not."

The two of them fell into another awkward silence as Bonnie was forced to consider Junior's question more closely. Maybe it _was_ just another way to compete with Kim. That was the one obvious thing Kim had that Bonnie didn't, after all – a child. Bonnie did enjoy the mental image of herself walking into a 30 year class reunion with her husband and daughter. A daughter who was much more well-groomed, well-dressed, and attractive than Kim's daughter, of course.

The more she thought about it, though, the more she realized it wasn't just about competing with Kim. Or maybe that was a part of it, but it was something deeper than that. Something bigger. She just wanted a child.

And she wasn't worried about going down the same path in life that Connie and Lonnie had followed – she knew Junior had his faults, but he had stuck by her ever since the two of them had fallen in love. It took them a long time to get married, but Junior was faithful to her.

Sometimes, in moments of unusual self-perception, Bonnie recognized that she could be hard to get along with. She was who she was, and she _liked_ who she was, but she could drive people away. Not Junior though. He shrugged off Bonnie's abuse like it was nothing, even when she was at her worst. She knew he loved her for who she was. And as borderline-incompetent as he could be sometimes, after seeing the way he acted around Kim's daughter at the reunion, Bonnie had no doubts that he would love their child as well.

"I've decided, Junior. We're making a baby."

"We are?"

"Yes."

Another breeze rolled in from the ocean outside of their open balcony, rustling the white drapes that framed the glass doors, twisting and turning its way through the room. Bonnie was wearing a gossamer nightgown, and the cool ocean air traveled over it like invisible feathers on her body. Her back arched imperceptibly at the feeling, and she looked at her husband with a twitch of her lips.

"We're making a baby, _now_."

Junior looked at Bonnie in confusion. "I am sorry to tell you, Bonnie, but I watched a show on the Knowing Network and they said it takes nine months to have a child."

Bonnie reached out and snaked her arm around Junior, rolling closer to him as the water bed rippled silently beneath them. She leaned over her husband. Hair tickled his face. Tanned skin brushed against his sculpted body as the breeze slipped between them. The ice-cold sensation of her diamond necklace pressed against Junior as she leaned in for a kiss.

"Oh. _Now_ I see what you mean."

XX

Kim sat on the edge of the bed and leafed through the pages of one of her high school yearbooks. She had enjoyed the reunion – Bonnie's presence notwithstanding – and she had enjoyed stopping by her parent's house and chatting with them, but she was happy to be home. Ron would be going back to work again tomorrow, and Kim had a consulting job with a security firm, but today, they had the day off. Ron sat beside her and looked at the yearbook photos as she flipped through the book.

"Look how much different he looked," he said as he pointed to a photo of Brick.

"That _was_ pretty shocking. And I don't think I heard him say 'dude' even once!"

Their reminiscing was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come on in, Annie."

Their daughter opened the door and came in, hopping on the bed beside her parents. Annie looked at the yearbook with interest as Kim flipped the next page to arrive at a picture of her and Ron as teens. The two of them were waving at the camera, which Kim remembered was being held by Monique. Ron wore a powder blue tuxedo in the photo that almost matched the color of Kim's dress. The two of them were at the Junior Prom. Based on Kim's memory, and based on the somewhat stupefied expression on Ron's face staring up at her from the yearbook, the photo had been taken at some point after their first kiss.

"Wow, mommy, you looked pretty good back then," Annie said.

"Hey!"

Kim smacked her daughter playfully on the arm. Annie was growing up to be quite cheeky.

"Did you guys like each other back then? I mean, in the picture?"

Kim nodded. "Yes, we did. We always liked each other, though. It just changed a little when we got older. That was the night that when things were really different, even though we both knew things were changing for a while before that."

Kim and Ron were holding hands in the photo, their other hands free to wave at the camera. A small pink rodent was perched on their clasped hands in the middle of the photo, waving a tiny paw. Annie looked at the creature thoughtfully.

"Is that Rufus?"

Kim looked at her daughter in surprise. She had never heard Ron mention Rufus to Annie over the years, and only on a handful of occasions had the subject ever come up between her husband and herself. Ron must have brought Rufus up to his daughter at some point, however. Or perhaps she had picked it up from overhearing something Monique had said, or maybe even her parents.

"Yes, that's Rufus," Ron answered.

"He looks pretty smart. I didn't know a mouse could wave!"

"A naked mole rat," Ron corrected his daughter. "And yes. Rufus was very smart."

"Maybe we could get a pet rat, daddy?"

Ron was silent for a moment. The photo, along with his daughter's comments, had brought back a few memories that he hadn't visited in a long time. Eventually, though, his daughter's pleading expression dragged a response out of him.

"Do you think you'd be responsible enough to take care of a pet, Annie?"

"So not the drama."

Ron smiled.

"We'll think about it, then."

Annie had managed to gradually ease the yearbook out of her mother's hands and was looking more closely at the photos. She flipped to another page of Junior Prom photos and pointed to one of the pictures. "There's Bonnie," she said. "She looks pretty angry in that picture."

"Believe me, it's not the only photo you'll see where she looks angry."

Kim thought about the way her daughter had been hitting off with Bonnie at the reunion – at least, they appeared to be hitting it off, from what she had seen. An upsetting image crossed Kim's mind, and even though she knew it was outlandish, she could not help but blurt out: "Annie, promise me you'll never become a supervillain."

Annie laughed. "That's silly! Why would I do that?"

"I don't know – maybe Bonnie told you it was a good idea."

"No, she didn't. Bonnie was funny, but I don't want to be like her. I'd rather save the world like you do. Duh, mom."

Annie pointed to a photo on the bedroom floor, which had fallen out of a yearbook page it had been tucked inside. It was a picture of Kim Possible, dressed in her mission clothes and pointing a grappling hook at an unseen foe. Kim couldn't remember if it was a shot from an actual mission, or if she had just been posing for some reason.

"And I'm going to wear an outfit that shows my belly button, just like that!" Annie declared.

"You can save the world when you can buy your own clothes and start dating boys," Ron said to his daughter.

"You mean when I'm thirty?"

"Exactly."

Annie rolled her eyes at her father, and then returned her attention to the yearbook photos, sometimes laughing a little at an image of her parents, sometimes pointing to a person and asking if they had been at the reunion.

Kim looked down at her daughter as she leafed through the book, and she saw the newborn baby that she had once held in her arms. The toddler, tentatively standing up and taking her first steps. A grown woman, almost a mirror image of Kim, but with eyes and a smile that were definitely Ron's. Kim saw the woman engaged in a fearsome battle, putting herself in harm's way, and the image made her brow crease with worry.

Sometimes she wished that she could freeze the world just the way it was, and keep Annabelle how she was right now, forever. No growing up, no learning hard lessons. No danger. But it was impossible. Kim knew that her daughter had to go through those things, had to grow up. Kim even knew she would love the woman Annie would grow to become, whoever that woman ended up being. She'd always be her Annabelle, after all. Even if she kept insisting on being called Annie.

But that was the future. For now, Kim would enjoy the present.

The last page turned, and the yearbook was finished. Annie closed it and placed it on the bed. Ron looked at his wife with a smile, and she smiled back as she wrapped her arm around her daughter's shoulder and pulled her closer. Kim hadn't enjoyed the image of Annabelle fighting with supervillains and traveling across the world to dangerous places, but then, she supposed her parents had probably been forced to get used to the idea as well. Annabelle was certainly precocious enough to follow in her mother's footsteps, although hopefully that didn't happen too soon. And Kim had to admit that she could do a lot worse than saving the world.

She would just have to work on changing her daughter's mind about that outfit.

XX

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_**Notes** - That's it. Reviews are appreciated. :) This is an entry for the Writer's Challenge Contest, which can be found in a thread near the top of the Kim Possible Discussion forum - check it out, read the other entries, and vote for the story you like most when the voting poll goes up._

_I noticed this story had some reviewers I haven't seen before, so if you haven't read some of my other stories, allow me to shamelessly plug them! _A Date with Destiny_ focuses on Kim and Ron as young friends. _A Little Lemon_ focuses on Kim and Ron in college (it's only rated T, get your mind out of the gutter!) Those are probably the two stories closest in tone to this one, IMO. If you like Bonnie, _Going Green_ and_ Just a Jock_ both have her playing a big part._

_I will have a small sci-fi/humor one-shot centered on Shego going up probably tomorrow, and shortly after that I will start posting a larger multi-chapter sci-fi/action story focusing on Kim and Shego as the main characters. It'll be kind of different in tone than anything I've written so far. Put me on author alerts if you want to catch that one._

_Thanks for reading! And thanks for all the feedback, I really enjoyed reading it._


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